Bandersnatch Isle
by C. M. Griffiths
Summary: After the fall of the religion. Alice goes in search of the elusive Bandersnatch, and finds more than she expected. DARE YOU GO WITH HER!!???
1. Distant Horizons

Disclaimer: This fanfiction is roughly based on BOTH Lewis Carols Alice in wonderland and events in American McGee's game Alice. All unfamiliar characters have been created by me all others are a combination of Lewis Carol and American McGee. The story is the continuation from the previous story, Cleric of Wonderland   
  
Bandersnatch Isle  
By  
C. M. Griffiths  
  
Chapter 1: Distant horizons  
  
Alice was sitting on a comfortable toadstool on the outskirts of wonderland looking out over the sea and wondering as her curiousity often would. (It was also her curiousity that got her into the most trouble, but hadn't killed her yet.)  
The air was sweet as the fragrance of nearby flowers as the chatted amongst them selves about any piece or gossip a flower could gain and talk about. The breeze was tainted with a pinch of salt as she inhaled a large lungfull. Because before her was the great sea of wonderland and it stretched out as far as the eye could see, spilling into the horizon beneath the shining sun and under the wisps of clouds, floating harmlessly in the sky. And all the while, amongst the pleasantries of wonderland, Alice felt bored.  
It had been several days since she had defeated the Religion in the dark cathedral through the looking glass and freed wonderland from a tyranny yet again. It was almost becoming routine for her. However, she could not get the threat of Konchuu and his last words out of her head before he was crushed beneath a stone pillar as the building collapsed around them. He would return and Alice had been keeping watch over wonderland as the travelled, almost innocently through the now green fields but the people and animals were all living harmoniously again except for the card guards who still had their unquenchable thirst for conflict but had chosen to fight amongst themselves as they were divided and leaderless, only causing trouble amongst themselves.  
Her friend the gnome elder had repaired his balloon and had begun transporting people from place to place for a fee, managing to keep himself busy and the Chess pieces had resumed their never ending game in the pale realms, eternally trying to outfox each other with neither side gaining any advantage for a prolonged time.  
Caterpillar had not foreseen (or wanted to see) any trouble in the near or distant future and was endlessly smoking his opium, but still retaining most of his sanity in this mad place sitting on his toadstool as always in the centre of the fungiferous forest. The only person whom was still as bored as she was, was the Cheshire cat. He kept appearing looking for something to do or something to play with (or something to chase!) and disappear still smiling but more glum. And this was all getting to poor Alice.  
  
The familiar descending chiming rang out gently through the sound of the sea beating against she shore and the Cheshire cat materialised, sitting next to Alice's toadstool, smiling as always.  
"Oh good" she thought to herself. "At last something to do"  
"I'm afraid not." replied the cat in answer to her thoughts. "I'm as restless a you are. Next time you seek to destroy your enemy, take your time about it!"   
He smiled at her and they both laughed. Alice looked out to sea and spoke.  
"Cat, is there anything out there beyond the sea?" she asked  
"I'm not quite sure." Came his reply.  
Alice immediately stared at him intently, almost in shock. He had been to every place in Wonderland in his own magical way and he had seen all of it's inhabitants. How could he not know?  
"How is that possible cat?"  
"Well, if there is anything on the seas, it cant be very interesting enough for me to look at!"  
His feline stubbornness and arrogance sometimes got on her nerves.  
"How do you know if you've never been there?" she asked  
He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, or at least his smile widened a bit.  
"There is a rumour that, originally, the bandersnatch came from over the seas." He said to himself  
"What's a bandersnatch?" she enquired.  
"Well I'm sure you have come across Banderscotch, have you not?"  
Alice nodded, she had encountered it in the cathedral city (and saw it's intoxicating effects if one drank so much of it)  
"Well they are the ones who make the foul drink," his face grimaced slightly "also they are very sharp minded. No-one has seen or caught one for a while because they are very difficult to catch and if they do, they get quite frumious!"  
  
Alice had already gotten off her mushroom and was preparing to wade into the sea when the Cats head popped out of no-where in front of her.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He cautioned.  
"And why not, thanks to the Mock turtle, I'm part reptile remember?" and tapped her back revealing an invisible mock turtle shell.  
"It wouldn't make any difference," said cat "You would drown before you got a tenth of the way and there are large snarks in the deep waters. Large enough to swallow you hole"  
Alice remembered the dark time when she was following the mock turtle underwater and had nearly got eaten by a snark as large as a whale! Alice returned to shore a more grumpy person until an idea struck her.  
"Lets go see old mockers!" she suggested to the cat, "maybe he can answer my questions?"  
Cat looked angry as for the first time he had failed to answer on of her questions.  
"You may go but I will not!" he insisted. "His incessant wailing gets on my nerves." and proceeded to vanish, his smile somewhat reduced while Alice headed off towards the gardens once again.  
  
Alice had always found it necessary to keep a getting small elixir in case she wanted to go into the gardens because making them was quite an effort that Alice couldn't be bothered with every time she needed to change size. She stood in front of the garden wall with it's tiny hole near her feet and took a few gulps of the liquid. She felt swirl of flavours enter her mouth from strawberry to chocolate to roast turkey until it suddenly ended abruptly and her head plummeted towards the ground without moving.  
She shook the disorientation off and proceeded into the garden though the hole.  
It was moments like these, surrounded by tall flowers busily chatting amongst themselves, feeling the soft grass beneath her feet where hard ground used to run endlessly in all directions and the sun shining brightly in the sky that she realised it was a good thing she came back to wonderland. If she hadn't, the place would remain a dark, depressing, festering world ruled by the tyrannical queen of hearts.  
But now she had been defeated, everyone was free to enjoy themselves once again. She reminded herself this as she skipped down the path into the garden until she came to a familiar face.  
The signpost was now the gardens mapmaker as he changed all the paths to suit his moods (and Alice always did her best to be on his good side!) and he was the only one who knew all the routes. He was asleep as always and Alice walked up to him and tried to rouse him.  
She knocked on his post to waken him, which it did with a shock.  
"What, What, What?" he yelled in confusion until his eyes met Alice. "Oh it's you again! Good morning Miss Alice"  
"Good morning Mr Signpost," she answered "could you direct me into the vale of tears where my statue is please. I wish to meet the Mock turtle"  
"I wouldn't if I were you," advised the signpost "he seemed quite upset about something this morning!"  
"He's always like that!" she explained. "He'll be alright when I talk to him, I want to ask him a few things."   
"Very well then, he's down that past there." And pointed his arm down the path as he went back to sleep as Alice walked confidently down the path towards the vale of tears.  
The vale of tears was in desperate need of a new name thought Alice as the walked through the foliage and looking up she saw several ants working near a small stream which turned into a waterfall when it flowed off the mountain. It used to be a lot more miserable before she freed it and its name came from the statue of Alice downstream on top of the waterfall. It used to be a large model of Alice sitting crying into a lake which formed most of the streams and ponds, hence, vale of tears but the statue was not crying anymore. It was sitting on it's own little island in the middle of the lake looking not particularly happy but not sad either as if it were a pillar of normality in this insane world.   
The only reason it could be the vale of tears was the behaviour of it's most prominent resident and probably the most recognisable in the whole of the gardens, the Mock turtle and he was always sad about something. Alice negotiated her way up the waterfall hill, albeit difficulty but there were no falling rocks to knock her to her death this time. Thankfully.   
At the end of the stream she found the giant statue of herself sitting on her island, surprisingly, with a slight frown on her face. There was a great deal of whimpering around the pond with was quite loud, it was obvious that the statue had been forced to listen to it all morning. Alice looked at the statue which gestured over to a small glade behind a few rocks, this was obviously where the sound was coming from. Alice waded through the waters and scrambled to the rocky glen where she found what she was looking for.  



	2. Misery Mockers

Chapter 2 - Misery Mockers  
  
The Mock turtle was a strange being indeed. He was a reptile of course with a few major differences that other turtles wouldn't have. For a start he had the head of a bull which came adorned with two great horns accompanied with un-turtle like ears and eyes. His shell was a light shade of blue instead of a dark green and he spoke quite fluent English. He would say of course this was natural because he wasn't a real turtle, he was a "mock" turtle of course and as usual, he was crying.  
Alice approached him gingerly to let him know she was there but also not to make him any worse, when he was crying it didn't take much to make him worse.  
"Err, hello Turtle." She said quietly.  
The turtle stopped crying for a moment and arched his head over to her direction. He looked her over once and burst into tears again.  
"Surely it can't be all that bad?" she asked "Tell me what's the matter."  
He straightened himself out and turned to face her, his eyes a little more red than usual and his face streaked with tears.   
"Sit down then" he said, miserably.  
She did as she was told and he began.  
"I'm crying because I haven't seen Gryffon for a long time now, After all that business near the cathedral, the Ants have been telling me he's dead!" and burst into tears once more.  
"Don't worry he's not dead," she replied "He did get a little hurt but he's been resting in his eyrie till he gets better."  
This news made the turtle smile again and he stopped crying, much to Alice's relief. However she was far from finished with him and began to question him again as delicately as she could.  
"I have heard something's called Bandersnatches live beyond the great seas. Do you know anything about this?"  
HE paused for a moment in concentration, scratching his horns and fiddling his ears until he answered.  
"I've heard of Banderscotch! Does that help?"  
Alice sighed.  
"I'm afraid it doesn't but thanks anyway. Do you know anyone who could help me please?"  
He paused to think again. This was obviously a hard thing for him to do.  
"Some fish are downstream, maybe they have come from the ocean!? Lets ask, you remember how to get there don't you?"  
"Leaf riding?" she said, not liking the answer.  
"Yes that's it!" he jumped for joy and two leaves fell out of the sky and sat floating on the shimmering surface of the pond, drifting slowly down stream. The Mock Turtle jumped on one and flew off down one of the waterfalls, screaming with joy and excitement all the way.  
Alice carefully stepped onto her leaf and braced herself in expectancy, but her leaf stood motionless casually bobbing on the surface of the water.  
  
Alice could hear the turtle getting further and further away and began to grow impatient with her leaf.   
"Could you follow him please!" she said, quite angrily.  
"Ok then!" replied the leaf, and they raced down the waterfalls in pursuit of the turtle.  
Leaf riding is a very dangerous thing in the Vale of Tears because downstream there were unexpected branches, thorns and sharp turns along the way that you had to dodge rather quickly or you fell in the water and were prey to the snarks. Alice steadied herself on the leaf as it surfed down the streams in hot pursuit of the turtle who was just ahead and closing. Alice suddenly lurched downwards as her leaf dropped a minor waterfall and landed on a soft patch of earth near a large daffodil looking as stupid as daffodils do, but her leaf was still moving down the stream.  
"Better go after it!" said the daffodil, but Alice didn't need telling twice and ran up a tree root which was protruding from the ground and followed her leaf. She reached the top of the root and looked down. She was ahead of her leaf but there was no way down from here so she was going to have to jump! The leaf passed along the stream and disappeared behind her, under the root, a few seconds later it emerged and Alice jumped!  
She landed on the leaf with a dull thud and collapsed onto her rear end which started to ache rather badly. The leaf below her started to laugh but it was silenced when Alice grinded her heel into it with a touch of anger on her face. Apart from feeling in pain she felt quite embarrassed and undignified.  
The journey was now becoming more and more turbulent as the water began to get faster and more choppy, Alice felt it getting harder to stay on the leaf and yet she was trying to remember something about the last time she had done this. Something important.  
  
She didn't see the turtle up ahead as the was thinking so hard and concentrating on staying upright. She remembered something about grabbing a vine near the end of the last time.   
"Alice, LOOK OUT!" yelled the turtle.  
She looked up suddenly and remembered what she had forgotten with horror! There was a large, deep pit ahead where the water dropped off suddenly with extremely sharp twigs lie below (already bloody from people who didn't remember in time!).   
Alice looked around furiously for the vine but it was nowhere to be seen, until it was too late that is.  
Her leaf careered off the end of the waterfall and they both fell into the inky blackness below and Alice could see the blood tipped spikes below her coming to meet her and end her knife, she had to act,  
she instinctually pulled out her vorpal blade and thrust it into the soft earth which was the walls of the pit. Sparks flew out as the blade grinded with the stone but it was paying off as she was slowing down, "Was it going to be enough" flashed through her mind as she approached the ground.  
Suddenly her descent stopped completely and she hung motionless on the side of the pit clinging onto the knife for dear life and hearing the Mock Turtle above her crying again.  
"Oh no!" he sobbed, very loudly "I've killed Alice" and let out a pitiful wailing scream.  
Alice dropped to the bloody floor of the pit, retrieved her knife (still sharp as ever) and called back.  
"Oh do be quiet turtle!" she yelled up. "I'm alright but how do I get out!?"  
It was a valid question for anyone to ask but unfortunately for her, turtle hadn't the slightest idea.  
"I don't know," he replied honestly tears still rolling down his cheeks "No-ones ever survived the drop before you!"  
"I feel quite privileged!" she yelled sarcastically "But next time I'll throw you down here if you don't get me out"  
"How will you do that if your down there?" he asked.  
He was suddenly silenced by Alice's blade as it sliced through the ear close to one of his horns and imbedding itself into a nearby tree, he stopped crying.  
"I'll go get help!" he yelled down and ran off somewhere, leaving Alice in her dirty great hole.  
  
In fact it was a dirty hole. The walls and floor were painted with blood of different colours and it didn't improve ones mood in the slightest to see various severed limbs scattered around the floor. Alice grimaced at the sight of an arm protruding from the floor and She thought herself lucky that her appendages were not residents of this place. She sat for what seemed like an hour, carving pictures on the walls with her blade, it reminded her of the asylum.   
For hours she would be locked in the small room. The lights were always depressingly darker than normal with only the sunshine to improve ones mood and lighting. She often wondered what good could become of such a terrible place when her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by small bits of dirt falling from the hole above near the waterfall. She looked up and saw the Turtle and Bill Mcgill standing on the edge carrying a rope ladder.  
"Mornin' miss!" yelled Bill. "Ya got any brandy?"  
"I'm afraid not but I do have a problem!"  
"Haven't we all! He He!". He calmed himself and threw down the rope ladder. "There ya go, cop hold o that!"  
She did as she was told and climbed out of the pit rather shakily as the ladder was not entirely stable and swung around from time to time. If she fell off it, she would probably be impaled on the spikes below but she didn't and her two friends pulled her up off the ladder and back onto solid ground, the waterfall streaming nearby. She brushed herself down, sheathed her blade and smartened her dress before speaking.  
"Well thank you turtle for getting me into that!" she said angrily.   
The turtle began to weep once again. Bill and Alice rolled their eyes in confusion.  
"And thank you for getting me out of it!" smiled Alice to Bill. They both laughed.  
"Come on then, my house is not that far away." Gestured Bill "We can have a rest and a cup o tea. And don't worry! No Duchess this time."  
They strolled along the hard ground, passing various flowers chatting to themselves about any bit of gossip they had. It reminded Alice of her aunts around the sewing circle chatting to themselves about anything and everything and eventually they came to a clearing with a large lake behind it and Bills house was standing in the distance illuminated dimly by torch light. They paused at the lakeside and Bill stamped the ground quite hard. In response, a large leaf floated down from the sky and settled on the water. Alice was hesitant to get on another leaf but the ride was less turbulent, and much slower as they glided gently over the lake towards Bills house, occasionally seeing glimmers of shiny snark skin below them as they swam about their own, simple business. Alice turned to the Turtle.  
"I thought we were going to talk to them?" Alice asked.  
"Not now, they're too busy!" he replied, almost surprised.  
"Busy doing what?"  
"Nothing! It's uses up a lot of energy doing nothing, you know." And nodded his head in encouragement.  
Alice mealy shrugged her shoulders in confusion as they all made their way into the house and Bill closed the door behind them.  



	3. Fishing

Chapter 3 - Fishing.  
  
Bill lead the two people down the main corridor of his house. It was a corridor dimly lit with a sense of gloom about it as it was very dimly lit by large fireflies attached to the wall which were on opposite sides every few meters or so on the dark green walls. Alice had been here before to fight the Duchess (and won!) and the fireflies were still here, she was not quite sure if they were an actual decoration or if they were real animals. Servants for a purpose were common in both her world and Wonderland.  
As they walked towards the main room, Alice seemed to notice that Bills lizard skin was changing colour into a deep shade of green, she could only assume he was trying to blend in with his surroundings instinctually or he was just more relaxed in his own home. At last they entered the living room.  
It was almost the same as Alice's first visit except most of the pepper pots had been removed and no baby clothes were anywhere to be seen. They all sat around the main table in the centre of the room which was its smaller size. The room could widen to a great size in a matter if seconds if it needed to "Great for parties" Alice thought to herself. Bill picked up an assortments of plates and containers and placed them in front of their respective drinkers. Alice was presented with a teacup and teapot, Bill himself had a whisky vial and a small beaker and the Mock turtle had a glass of water. He didn't like it, but Bill didn't know what he liked as he cried so much. Alice poured some of the tea into the cup and sipped it daintily whereas bill downed his Whisky shot after shot.   
"So," Bill began, his voice with a hint of a cockney accent. "Mockers tells me your wondering about the bandersnatch, my love?"  
"Yes I am," she replied "I have heard of them several times but I've never actually seen one."  
"I'm not surprised, they're very hard to catch you know." replied Bill.  
"Humpty Dumpty told me this when I was in wonderland many years ago, but I didn't see one then either. Do you know anything else?"  
Bill scratched his leather like skin on his head in deep thought until a recollection ran into his lizard brain.  
"I know about Banderscotch if that helps?"  
Alice sighed, slightly defeated. She remembered a long time ago of her father drinking with friends in the sitting room and getting rather tipsy from his efforts.  
"Is Banderscotch the only thing people think of when the word "Bandersnatch" is mentioned?!" she said angrily.  
"Probably," answered Bill "It's one of the favourite drinks ere."  
"I think it's too warm!" piped up the Mock Turtle.  
"I think it's a load o bloody rubbish!" snapped Bill. "It won't replace Brandy in my books, I'll tell ya!"  
  
Alice regained her composure by sipping her tea once again. She caught herself wringing her hands in frustration (all as well, she was trying to keep her temper!). She remembered Turtles' words from earlier.  
"Turtle said that some snarks from the ocean might know something about them and they live out to sea somewhere?"  
"Maybe," gestured Bill in thought. "But it's no good trying to get there. By the time you got halfway there, you'd have to come back!"  
"I certainly couldn't swim out to sea that far!" said the Turtle, slightly worried as if this was what they were going to ask him to do. "I'd be too tired. And there are huge fish out there bigger than the Queen of hearts!"  
Alice shuddered slightly. The Queen of Hearts in her true form was at least a hundred feet high and not very pleasant to look at. If there were Snarks in the ocean worse than her, one wouldn't venture too far out to sea for very long.  
"Well maybe gryffon could fly me over there?" Alice sounded optimistic.  
"Don't be stupid!" said bill, much to her offence. "He'd be exhausted before he got a third of the way!"  
"Sounds like the bandersnatch don't want to be found!"  
"I'm not surprised given the taste of that banderscotch rubbish!" Bill said, slightly smiling.  
"Well I'm going to see those large fish now and see if I can get some answers!" exclaimed Alice.  
She drank the last of her tea, stood up and walked out of the room gesturing to her tea-mates who were busy finishing their drinks off. The Mock turtle got up and followed her leaving his water completely untouched and bill shrugged his shoulders, downed the last of his brandy and headed after them up the corridor towards the door.  
Outside was it's usual murky self with the mist of the swamps and lakes hovering gently over the surface of the lake, masking the movements of any fish (or other animals) that lie beneath the surface (therein lied the danger!) After ten minutes of intense, eye straining, staring into the lake/pond for any kind of activity, Alice looked at Turtle in impatient expectancy.  
"Well?" she said firmly.  
"There in here somewhere I promise, I'll have a look for you!" he replied and dived into the pool.  
A trail of bubbles appeared on the surface of the water and headed towards the centre rather slowly. Both Alice and Bill kept their eyes fixed on the bubbles knowing that somewhere beneath them was a Mock turtle looking for someone to talk to. The bubbles circled around the middle of the pond for sometime and Alice began to think he must come for air soon or he would drown, albeit slowly being a reptile. She was just about to give up hope when suddenly the stream of bubbles in the centre of the lake stopped abruptly.  
Alice looked at Bill!  
Bill looked at Alice!  
They both looked out into the lake again and saw a large bubble forming on the surface on the water. It suddenly burst into the air and popped and a hideous (but cowardly scream) burst out of the bubble as many more of them furiously appeared on the surface. Seconds later, The Mock Turtle leapt out of the centre of the lake flying at least 20 miniature feet in the air, and landed on the far bank screaming and crying. He landed perfectly and began to run as fast as his feet and flippers would carry him back towards Alice's statue. He was running so fast that he ran up the waterfall as if the ground took a sudden angle upwards and disappeared in to the distance screaming in total terror!  
  
"I think he's found summet, Don't you?" said Bill, calmly but open mouthed.  
Alice couldn't speak. She was backing away from the lake slowly almost as wide mouthed as bill in total surprise. Turtle was a coward all right but she'd never seen him act like that before! Something really huge must be in there somewhere! She reached for the vorpal blade and threw it into the lake in the direction of the turtles screaming bubble, not knowing if she'd hit anything but her mind was still recovering from the shock.  
Another large bubble rose from the surface, popped, and a husky, deep voice spoke very loudly.  
"OW!" it said. Bill jumped at least a foot in the air.  
"Well, we know it's in there!" said Bill in alarm "But it's not gonna talk to us after you chucked ya knife at it!"   
Alice thought quickly  
"Maybe if we apologise by giving it something to eat?" said Alice looking hopeful, and bill at the same time.  
"Oh no you don't!" said bill defiantly. "I'm not going in there! And no amount o brandy's gonna change my mind about that!"   
His cockney accent was grating on Alice, especially when he was angry but she wasn't listening. She felt the knife reappear in the palm of her hand and in one swift stroke sliced bills tail off! He was more shocked than hurt as the picked up the ail and placed it half in the water and half on the shore.  
"What did you that for? What did I ever do to you!" he yelled but Alice again, wasn't listening.  
She had begun to walk back towards his house and stopped in the doorway, apparently waiting for something.  
""I'd recommend you get away from the shoreline Bill and you'll grow another tail!" Alice yelled from the house.  
Bill stood straight in defiance and turned his back towards her.   
Just in time to see an enormous snark burst onto the shoreline, fall flat in front of him and gobble his tail up, it's lifeless eyes glaring him in the face as its teeth tore through the meat of the tail.  
Bill acted immediately but not unexpectedly.   
He screamed as loud as his vocal chords would allow and darted towards his house faster than a white rabbit and leapt through the window. His head slightly re-appeared trembling as he peered over the window-frame at the large fish, eating his tail.  
Alice nervously emerged from behind the front porch of Bills house and approached the giant snark cautiously (with knife at the ready behind her back just in case!) and for now he hadn't seen her.  
She curtseyed in front of the giant fish and spoke in a somewhat demanding voice.  
"Hello. I was wondering if you could help us?"  
The fish ignored her.   
"A change of attention is needed" thought Alice and pulled out the knife and took a defensive posture.  
The giant fish looked up at the knife, it's black eyes wide open revealing large pools of emptiness as if it were death itself.  
Suddenly and without warning, the fish opened its mouth and a long, slippery tongue darted across the shore towards Alice. She ducked and rolled to the left as the tongue whipped near her head and cracked into the ground, tearing up a nearby bush. Alice had rolled next to a nearby rock in preparation for it's next swish. The tongue cracked near to her arm (obviously trying to disarm her) but Alice was to agile for it and drove the knife through the tongue and imbedding it into the rock.  
The fish let out a screeching cry of pain as it was now stuck to the ground via it's tongue and completely unable to re-enter the water. It crashed about trying to shake it's tongue loose from under the blade which Alice firmly held in place much to the fish's discomfort until she began to speak.  
"I'll release you if you promise not to do that again!" Alice ordered in her sweet but stern voice.  
The fish bounced once on the ground in pain and Alice assumed this to be a fishy version of "yes" so she sharply pulled out the knife and it's tongue snapped back into the fish's mouth like a piece of tightly strung elastic. It began to speak as if just returning from the dentists with a numb mouth.  
"All right then, What do you want of me?" he asked in a whispery voice.  
"That's better!" said Alice and sat down on the shore, fingers tightly clenched around her knife.  
  
Bill in the meanwhile let out a pathetic sigh and a dull thud was heard as he fainted! 


	4. Fishing for Clues

Chapter 4 - Fishing for clues!  
  
Alice had not thought this morning that she would be talking to an enormous fish but she was determined to try and learn something about the bandersnatch sooner or later and this leviathan was her best lead do far.  
"Did you frighten my friend at the bottom of the lake and if so why did you do that?" she asked  
"I didn't mean to frighten him," whispered the fish "I just appeared quickly and stared at him. He must have been afraid as I've never seen a turtle swim that fast."  
"He's a mock turtle, you know!"  
"Oh, alright. Did you throw the knife at me?"  
"Yes I did" said Alice apologetically "But I thought you were attacking him. I gave you my friends tail by way of apology."  
"I've never been by the way of apology, what does it look like and who lives there?"  
"Never mind!" Alice redirected the conversation "Do you know anything about some people called the Bandersnatch?"  
The fish narrowed its eyes and it's gills bristled as it sat in concentration, occasionally flapping it's fins on the shoreline.  
"Yes, I have" replied the fish.   
Alice's heart jumped. "Oh good! What can you tell me please?"  
"Well The bandersnatch are quite small beings to ordinary sized people but they have great numbers so I'm told. Also they're very machine people."  
"I'm sorry, I don't understand you?" replied Alice, confused.  
"They like to build machines and they're always building something with their hammers."  
"Anything else you could tell me? It would be helpful."  
"I'm sorry but that's all I know. But I could take you to tortoise if you want?"  
Alice had never met a tortoise in Wonderland so he must live under the sea, which was odd for a tortoise. He must be very clever.  
"Where is the tortoise?" Alice asked, but she was interrupted by a wailing sound getting louder and louder.  
  
Alice looked over the fishes shoulder and saw the turtle running back this way, still screaming with fright. He was running towards her direction and approaching the pond very quickly, Alice assumed he would stop think that he wouldn't want to see the giant fish again.  
Alice stood amazed as she saw her friend run straight over the surface of the water as if it was a large sheet of glass, not one foot submerging in the water below him. He landed on the riverbank and collapsed with exhaustion in front of her, panting to regain his breath. He looked up for a moment into Alice's eyes and spoke in a very tired voice.  
"I forgot to take you with me!" he said and collapsed again face up. He jumped up once more and hid behind a nearby rock at the sight of the large fish and whimpered in total cowardice. The rock (doing what rocks do, of course) simply sprouted its legs and moved away behind the house. Alice took this opportunity to tell the turtle what had happened and maybe to try and calm him down. She explained that the fish didn't mean him any harm and certainly didn't mean to shock him so much. Turtle nodded in agreement (and bewilderment0 and approached Alice and the giant fish.  
"So now what are you going to do?" asked turtle to no-one in particular.  
"Well Mr fish here says he's going to take me to the tortoise so he can tell me more about the bandersnatch." Said Alice  
Turtles whole frame perked up.  
"Tortoise?" he exclaimed. "The one who taught us?"  
Alice nodded  
"Well what are we waiting for? Lets go!" and began to pace impatiently.  
Alice gestured towards the fish and then the lake as if to signal her readiness. The fish wriggled about on the shoreline and began to slowly move himself back into the water, nut he was having difficulty.  
"Could you give me a push please, I'm finding it hard to get back."  
Alice nodded and placed her hands under one of his fins and pushed as hard as she could with Turtle pushing on the other side with equal effort until the fish wriggled a lot more than he should have done.  
"What's the matter?" asked Alice  
"Your tickling me!" replied the fish!  
Alice and Turtle shook in disbelief and with an almighty push, splashed the fish back into the water. He turned his head and dived underwater.  
"I think he want's us to follow him?" said turtle and waded in after him with Alice.  
  
The world under the lake was very unusual. The whole lake was shrouded in a new form of mist which blocked everything from view until you were six feet away from it. Alice was now swimming more comfortably as her reptile shell had appeared on her back and she could now hold her breath for much longer. A few stray snarks tried to intercept them as the travelled deeper and deeper and further and further downstream but were frightened off by Alice's vorpal blade. She had to come up for air several times on their journey and for her it was a relief because the mist of weeds and fungus under the water was making her a little drowsy and the fresh air rejuvenated her before she dived back down after the fish. Each time Alice popped up for air, she noticed she was getting further down the land and it wasn't long before they reached the ocean and swam further away. Alice wondered to herself if Cat would still be able to appear amongst the fishes beneath the waves and weighed up the possibilities. Cats didn't like water, so he'd make an effort to stay away from it. Also Wonderland was getting further and further away so he might not be able to traverse the distance.  
At last, a dim light met her eyes through the murky water and they seemed to be heading towards it but the blur of the waters made it indistinguishable other than the fact that it was there, however, Turtle swimming next to her seemed very exciting about whatever it was they were swimming into and looked quite enthusiastic.  
As they approached it, Alice began to make out a building of some sort with light coming from all the windows. On further inspection of the structure, Alice thought that it looked like the skool in the fortress of doors. If Turtle and Gryffon DID come here to be educated then this would be the place as it was the only building she could see (mind you, she couldn't see underwater very well). The giant fish had stopped moving and was gestured towards the building with one of his fins as if pointing with a finger, Turtle waved a fin at the fish who then disappeared back into shallow waters leaving Alice and Mockers in the middle of the ocean next to a building Alice knew nothing about, but swam towards it anyway.  
  
After swimming towards the door of the building, Alice suddenly realised she was no longer swimming through water and was suspended in mid air. She looked down and crashed into the moist earth on the sea bed closely followed by the Turtle. She looked behind her and noticed a shining surface curved around the building that was not unlike a large, inverted goldfish bowl.  
"A building in a gold fish bowl?" she said to the Turtle  
"Oh no" he replied, "It's a giant air bubble but there's a lot of moisture so the fish can breathe in here too. This is the underwater skool! It's been a long time since Gryffon and I were here last. Come on in, I just hope we don't interrupt any lessons."  
Alice followed the turtle through the door into the skool and noticed this was the happiest she had seen him for a long time. They walked into a grand hall which was empty save for one rather old looking turtle sitting in an headmasters chair dozing loudly. Alice wondered if anyone came here any more as the hall looked like it had been unused for a long time as all the wooden chairs of all shaped were covered in dust and the black board was chalky but had no intelligible writing on it.  
Meanwhile, Turtle had moved over to the old person sleeping in the chair and tapped him on the shoulder, with no significant effect. Turtle seemed more surprised than Alice by this. It was apparent that when Mockers had been here, the skool was quite full and the teacher was a hive of knowledge that he taught to his students. Now in this old building with it's single sleeping occupant, much of the places pride had left with the students on the last day of term.  
  
Alice walked up to the old reptile and gave him a knocking on his shell in an effort to rouse him. It worked surprisingly well and he stammered his voice while awakening sounding very gruff. He rose out of his chair slightly, brushed himself down and turned to Alice with a very stern expression on his reptilian face. Before he began to speak, Alice looked at the old turtle. He was a real turtle (unlike her mock friend) with a very distinguished face as far as turtles go. He had small tufts of white hair protruding from the back of his head and he carried a walking stick in his right hand.   
"Now see hear young miss!" he began, quite angrily. "In all my tears as teaching I've never seen such rudeness on behalf of any student of mine. Either two hundred lines or ten strokes with the cane! Which will it be?" and he gestured his cane in her direction.  
Before she could answer (or draw her blade) he turned around and his face went from anger to delight at seeing the Mock Turtle.  
"Well by Jove!" he screamed in delight "If it isn't Mockers himself!"  
"Hello Tortoise sir." Said the Mock turtle and they both shook each others hands vigorously.  
"So then me young fellow! Where's Gryffon and what are you doing with yourself lad?"  
"I'm keeping busy," he replied "but my friend Alice wants to talk to you. She needs lessons, sir"  
"Does she now? About what young miss?"  
"The Bandersnatch if you can sir." Alice replied somewhat meekly.  
Alice began to grow tired (or maybe more intrigued) by the fact no-one seemed to know anything about the Bandersnatch when she asked as the Teacher did exactly what everyone else did when asked. He stroked his chin and thought deeply to himself. Suddenly he said something Alice didn't expect in the slightest.  
"Well come along young miss! You first class begins in 10 Minutes!" and he stormed off through a door in the back of the hall, towards a classroom she assumed.   
"You won't regret his lessons Alice." piped up the Mock turtle. "Look how I turned out!"  
  
Alice had the feeling this would be interesting, but the turtles remarks didn't exactly fill her with confidence.  



	5. Distant Eyes

Chapter 5 - Distant Eyes.  
  
Far, far out so sea. A little person was watching his display wall seeing all the usual activity a normal day would produce and for once, he wished something would happen.  
The little person was a Flik Bandersnatch. Today he had been allocated the visual room of Bandersnatch Opticals and his duty was to watch every inch of the isle for something interesting or out of the ordinary. It never happened here though. But he didn't know, something was about to happen.  
He was just about to doze off in his leather, rotating chair when a light on his display wall began to flash and beep annoyingly under one of the screens immediately attracting his attention. He turned his chair towards his main view-screen and hit the activation button and a haze of static fog appeared on the monitor, he had forgotten something again. What was it? He looked up at the flashing light under the screen and remembered he had forgotten to type the number of the affected screen. He punched the number into the control box in his main screen and pressed the activation button once again and instead of static he saw a definite picture. But what is was, he couldn't tell.   
The Watcherwall around him was covered in small view-screens all of them showing a different picture (albeit in a small way as they were all small) and they were looking all over the Island but this particular set of eyes was not on the isle and were at least 10 years older than all the rest.   
He was watching a little girl in a blue dress and a very unusual creature standing next to her. It had the body and limbs of a turtle but the head was a completely different story. This was out of his league stuff. He was only to report disorder and troublemakers but this girl seemed neither of them, in fact she looked rather sweet. The creature on the other hand must be what the machine had warned him about so he picked up his natterbox and switched it on.  
"Hello sir, are you there?" he spoke. His voice was slightly higher pitched and nervous.  
"Yes Flik what is it?" came the reply. The response was quite the opposite, confident and normal.  
"I'm not sure sir," flick replied honestly "I think you'd better come take a look at this"  
A moaning sigh was heard over the listeners and a cracking sound which meant he had shut off and was on his way.  
The watcher room was a very lonely place lit by the glare off the screens and a dim light hanging from the centre of the room. The watcherwall was the most prominent thing in the room (it was the only thing in the room as it was circular) aside from the watchers chair in the centre and the door on the far end. A few minutes later another figure entered the room end approached Flik sitting in his chair staring at the screen with avid curiosity.  
"Alright then Water Flik, lets have a look." Said the Director and moved over to the main screen.  
He didn't recognise any thing he saw either and his mind couldn't assign the picture to what he should do about it.  
"What do you think Director? What should we do?" asked Flik.  
In a futile attempt to sound important and organised, he tried to shift some of the responsibility.  
"Well you think about your training stupid boy? What do you think?"  
"Well," Flik was on the spot. "The girl doesn't look as bad as the creature sir."  
"And?" The Director was enjoying this. "Where are they now Flik?"  
"Screen 2123, sir."  
"And where's that?"  
Flik thought back to his watcher training but this particular location wasn't important enough to be in his training so he reached for the Watchers Bandermap and looked at the index. He scrolled through the screen locations to find the corresponding one. (the fact that the Director of the company was looking over his shoulder didn't help) He wrote the location down on his report notes and handed it to the Director.  
"2123. The Underwater Skool. How close is that to us Flik?"  
"Not al all sir. In fact it's a long journey away near the mainland. Now What sir?"  
The Director thought to himself for a moment.  
"Keep monitoring Flik and report anything unusual. Don't forget the rest of the isle though!"  
Flik nodded in acknowledgement and returned to his main screen with curiosity while the Director walked out of the room with the report slip in his hands. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do as he entered the riser and pressed the secret button hidden next to the door and shot up to the highest level in the building.   
The doors opened on a dark room with the chattering of various machines in the background accompanied by the noise of the riser as if they were talking to each other in a machine-like way. He entered the room which had it's very own watcherwall. It covered one wall of the square room and various devices lay strewn around the rest in an organised manner. In the centre of the room sat a lone dark chair with it's back towards the door, giving the Director the impression that it's occupant didn't want to be seen. But this was important.  
  
"Ordermaster sir?" said the Director as he cautiously entered the room.  
There was an uncomfortable silence, rather like a sword through the heart.  
"Yes Director?" said a shrill voice from behind the chair.  
He swallowed hard and began to report.  
"Sir, One of the Banderwatchers have reported the young girl you asked for in range of our distant eyes."  
Another silence. The Director was not sure how much of this he could take.  
"Tell the Banderwatcher on duty, he is to be commended. Is she on the island?"  
"No sir. The eyes are one of our oldest in service. We had them installed in the underwater Skool many miles away." His poise of attention was starting to crumble.  
"Hmmmmmmm." Said the person. "Do those walls have ears?"  
Disagreeing with the Ordermaster was a VERY dangerous thing to do but he had to tell him.  
"No sir. When the Skool was used it was thought to be improper."  
His heart and brain almost jumped out of his back and ran away as he saw the chair slowly turning around to face him. As the Ordermaster was about to be revealed, a blinding light was turned on from behind the chair totally blanketing him in darkness but almost blinding the Director.  
"This is unfortunate." His voice was laced with fury and anger. "Keep your eyes on her as long as possible!"  
"Yes sir!" whimpered the Director.  
"Now, GET OUT!"  
The Director didn't need telling and rushed back towards the riser and plummeted down back to his office in complete terror. The Ordermaster was angry, but like his title, he didn't lose his calm and began to think. If Alice came to the Island and found him, She'd dispose of him. That is what the goodie goodies do after all. If he remained a secret he'd be safe. He turned back to his command console and lifted his personal Natterbox  
.  
"This is the Ordermaker here, I want the B.E.N.D.S"  
A short time later a gruff voice answered.  
"General Chaos Bandersnatch speaking, What do you require sir?" He sounded very important and disciplined. He didn't sound frightened of him at all.  
"I want a detachment of troops to keep an eye on the shoreline. Anyone unfamiliar comes on the island and I want to know about it, IMMEDIATLTY!"  
"Yes Sir! Understood Sir" replied the General and put down his Natterbox.  
The Ordermaker felt a little better. The B.E.N.D.S were now on the case and they have never been beaten or outfoxed before, and he had them to command and they followed his orders to the letter.  
He relaxed back into his chair and reached for his cup.  



	6. Learning Experience

Chapter 6 - Learning experience.  
  
Alice sat in the school chair in the classroom of the underwater Skool (she couldn't help feeling she was being watched) next to the mock turtle in the most uncomfortable wooden chairs. Alice had remembered her school days before she entered the asylum and the chairs were as comfortable as the ones she was currently sitting on, but compiled with the addition of lots of boys and girls making a racket enjoying themselves it didn't seem so bad. There weren't any other children though.  
She turned to the Mock turtle and he seemed to be smiling. A very rare event for him!  
"What are you smiling about, these chairs are most uncomfortable!"   
"Yes I know but It's been so long since I was here, I missed the place and I'm glad to be back!" he replied merrily.  
"It's very quiet," she noticed "I enjoy the racket we caused."  
Suddenly, the door opened and Tortoise walked in wearing his headmasters cloak and mortar board.  
"You cant have a racket in here!" he ordered. "There's no tennis balls to be hit! Now lets get on with the lesson!"  
Alice tried to make herself as comfortable as possible (to no avail) and listened intently to the Tortoise. It had been so long since she had been taught anything and she was actually looking forward to it as she hadn't had any teachings in the Asylum. Mockers was just smiling as the Teacher began.  
  
"Right, now then my little amphibians we have a new guest in the class and her name is Alice, stand up Alice please and let the class look at you."  
"But there's only Mock Turtle here?" she replied, confused.  
"Stand up Alice!" ordered Tortoise as if he was going to cane her next.  
Feeling slightly stupid, Alice stood up and turned around on the spot. Turtle gasped and clapped with enthusiasm. Unexpectedly, all the books on the shelves began to flap open and closed as if starting a round of applause and some even whistled but the teacher silenced them by slamming his cane onto his desk at the front of the class, in front of the blackboard.  
"SILENCE, ALL OF YOU!" he yelled. "I don't care how bad you can cut people, Be presentable!"  
And the books snapped shut, abruptly.  
"Spineless lot." joked Alice.  
"They wouldn't be very good books if they didn't have a spine my dear!" Tortoise insisted. He regained his state of mind and began to speak.  
"Now. You siting comfortably?"   
"Not really!" Alice answered  
"Good, that means you'll pay attention! Now we will begin." And tapped the cane on his desk.  
The chalk from the blackboard began to hover in mid-air for a moment and then proceeded to write,  
"The Bandersnatch" in large white letters on the dusty surface on the board.  
"The Bandersnatch students used to live on the mainland amongst the tulgey wood where they managed to form a somewhat volatile relationship with the various and elusive species of the Jabberwocks in the forest."  
The Mention of the Jabberwock sent a shiver down Alice's spine. Lots of people had said nasty things to her, but he blamed the fire and the death of her parents on her. He was not a nice animal by any standards  
"Now as living amongst the forests was quite difficult, they managed to acquire limited knowledge of clockworks and rudimentary machinery. Now, if the bandersnatch exist today we could only assume that they have improved their knowledge. Is everybody following so far?"  
Both Alice and the Mock Turtle nodded. Alice for a moment that the Turtles giant head was going to fall off, he was nodding it so hard.  
"Now can anyone describe a bandersnatch for me?" he asked to the class.  
Both his students shook their heads in honest denial.  
"Chalk!" he yelled, and the chalk began to move once more.  
It drew a picture on the board of what Alice presumed to be a member of the Bandersnatch species and settled back in mid air. Surprisingly, it looked like a normal human being, albeit smaller and more bulkier. Alice wondered if they were any particular colour?  
Tortoise cleared his throat and began again.  
"Now as you can see from this diagram, the Bandersnatch are rather like the human breed of Alice. One would probably guess there "Homo Banderous" in the correct terminology."  
"Their skin colour is a Caucasian with a mild hint of green among certain places such as the skin and feet."   
("So they are green" Alice thought) Tortoise directed to the diagrams frame.  
Also, you can see a highly developed musculature body for several reasons. Can anyone give me a reason?" He turned to the class.  
Mock Turtle raised his hand as reaching for heaven.   
"Yes Turtle?"  
"To avoid being caught! To avoid being caught!" he stammered.  
Alice was surprised , he had never been this enthusiastic about anything before.  
"Correct Turtle. How about you Alice?" and turned his eyes to her which put her on the spot.  
Alice thought back to what Bill had said.   
"Well one of my friends said they are always building things with their hammers. Maybe it makes them stronger?"  
"Not exactly accurate, but more or less correct."  
Alice sighed in relief.  
"Our bandersnatch example is a constructor person rather like a colony of ants. Unfortunately, no one has ever caught one in the wild and only contacts have been made via their trade embargoes. Bu those themselves do not last very long as they return home when all is done."  
  
A bell sounded in the hallway which startled Alice.  
"Who could be doing that?" she thought to herself.  
"Break time," the turtle said "Be back in here in ten minutes to finish the lesson. The final topic will be on Bandersnatch thinking" and walked out of the classroom once again.  
Alice and Turtle got out of their chairs to stretch their legs and let their backs recover from the discomfort.  
"I wonder why they don't live on the land any more?" asked Alice to Turtle.  
Turtles enthusiasm had disappeared and he shrugged his shoulders. It was obvious to Alice now that when Mockers had been here with Gryphon, he always had to compete for attention and gratification. Now Alice was the centre of attention and he was doing the best he could without being resentful, similar to the way a young boy would try to impress someone for the position of prefect.  
Alice went over to the bookshelf to look at the now silent book audience and searched their titles for anything to do with the Bandersnatch, but to no avail. It dawned upon her to simply ask.  
"Em. Excuse me." She began  
"Why what have you done?" replied one of the books  
"Nothing, I'm just going to ask you if you know anything about the Bandersnatch?"  
"Oh, you mean the thing the old crab was going on about!" said another book  
"He's not a crab, he's a turtle." corrected another book.  
This had begun to turn into a schoolboy argument. Immature and about nothing in particular.  
"Well, whatever he is, do any of you know anything?" insisted Alice.  
One book spoke out over the top of the rest.  
"I know that they love hammers and mallets and hitting things with them!"  
"What things?" asked Alice curiously.  
"Anything that gets in their way or anything they feel like! So you'd better watch out if you plan on meeting any of them." Said the book.  
Just then all the books on the shelf snapped shut as the Turtle walked back into the room and Alice (reluctantly) returned to her seat alongside Turtle.  
"Well, now breaks over, back to the lesson!" the Turtle said grandly and returned to his chair in front of the blackboard.  
The chalk rose once again and wrote "Bandersnatch Thinking" in curved handwriting on the board.  
"Now!" began the Turtle, snatching all the attention. "The way a Bandersnatch thinks is quite similar o the previous reference to the ants as they are very organised and have strength in numbers."  
"You mean, the more there is, the better they are?" asked Alice.  
"In a sense yes Alice, very good!"  
Alice shot an apologetic look towards the Turtle who looked back, slightly deflated.  
"If the fellows are building something they will put all or most of their resources to finishing the problem before they move onto another one, thereby completing the task a lot quicker than it would take a small group of them. Also, they have a fascination with Hammers and Mallets. Probably due to the fact they are always building something or assembling some form of contraption as I said they understand some basic machinery."  
The Mock Turtle spoke out suddenly.  
"What kind of things do they build, sir?" he asked, and smiled to himself in pride.  
"It's rude to interrupt me Turtle, don't be impertinent!" snapped the Teacher and the Turtles smile vanished.  
"But you did ask a valid question, I'll give you that."  
His smile re-appeared.  
"As far I have known and seen, I know they have built large boats to travel across the seas with and according to several older editions of the history books, they have built great weapons of brilliant ingenuity and complexity.  
"Like what, Sir?" asked Mockers  
The teacher stood open mouthed, he couldn't believe he didn't know the answer and neither did the Mock turtle.  
"I Don't know!" said the Turtle in utter shock. "I honestly don't know! But I imagine I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of them. They have been known to be quite ruthless sometimes."  
"Oh?" murmured Alice. "What do you mean?"  
"Well, according to the texts. If they ever intended revenge on someone, they could be quite brutal."  
"I still don't understand, sir?" said Alice.  
"I think they remonstrated with a Spade guard once. Poor chap wasn't too well after it I heard and they got away with it!"  
This was serious! If a person or group could attack one of the queens soldiers. And a Spade! One of the toughest and get away with it, they certainly were to be reckoned with.  
  
The second bell rang out through the skool halls and the Turtle began to move away again.  
"Hold on!" shouted Alice. "That lesson was shorter than the first!"  
"Well we don't know much to start off with child and we cant tell you what we don't know can we!" replied the Turtle and stormed out of the classroom.  
However, Alice felt the experience was not a totally futile one as she had learned something. She had learned that the bandersnatch are very organised and they are always building something. But still the island was a long way away and she couldn't swim there for fear of drowning.  
She Turned to Mock Turtle who was about to leave the classroom to return home.  
"One moment please!" she stopped him with.  
He turned around slowly to see her standing firm with her hands on her hips.  
"Now what am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I can't go back because there's nothing to go back to!"  
"Are you sure about that Alice?" queried the Turtle. "There's always something happening in Wonderland! Maybe you could find out how the Bandersnatch get their banderscotch here?"  
For once he had a brilliant idea!  
"All right then, I'll head back with you. But take your time, I nearly lost in the murky waters."  
"I'll do my best!" promised the Turtle and the two friends bade the Turtle farewell.  
"Remember to come back one day Mockers old lad!" shouted the Turtle from the hall as they left the school.  
Alice was just about to walk out of the bubble into the sea when something caught her eye up above them. It was a large metal something with the dim light gleaming off it. It was hard to distinguish but it was definitely moving and headed towards the mainland under it's own power.   
"It doesn't sound like a fish and the teacher the bandersnatch used ships from time to time!" Alice thought to herself. I think I'll climb aboard!"  
So Alice merged through the air bubble (activating her reptile shell) and began to swim upwards towards the dark shape, completely away from the Mock turtle who was returning to the shore, he'd be surprised when he got there and there was no Alice!  



	7. In the wash

Alice was swimming upwards towards the surface towards what she thought would be a bandersnatch boat of some kind. She knew she wanted to gain entry, but she wasn't quite sure how and the boat was getting closer and closer! Suddenly, Alice felt that the effort needed to swim towards the boat had reduced and she seemed to be veering to the right slightly with no explanation. Alice kept swimming but the strange effect didn't wear off and It was steadily increasing with alarming strength.  
Alice looked in the direction she was being pulled and gaped in horror as she realised she was being pulled into one of the ships huge propellers!   
Suddenly, Alice swam as hard as she could away from the propeller to no avail as it's invisible grasp on it's prey was holding and it's unconscious intent of chopping her into as many pieces as possible seemed almost certain. Alice was losing the battle with the propeller as every stroke her arms reached out, she lost more and more strength in the battle and her chest had now begun to hurt from lack of air, she was going to die soon if she didn't have a stroke of luck! Either of drowning from lack of air or chopped into chunks!   
In a last ditch of determination, Alice thrust her blade into the belly of the ship which was now in reach and pulled herself towards it, fingers clinging to the handle for dear life. As her face touched the metal hull of the ship she quickly withdrew her blade from the hull and rammed it into the hull again, an arm length above her head. She hovered for a moment between the pull of the furious current from the swirling propellers and the tight grip on her knife as a piece of ribbon would when blown invisible towards a fan. She coaxed herself to lie face up on the first hole she had made with her blade and began to breathe the air from within the ship. She felt better as the (almost) fresh air glided into her mouth, down her throat and into her lungs and her head and chest gradually ceased to ache so.  
"As long as I hang on to the knife," she thought to herself "I wont get pulled into the propeller! I only hope that whoever on board doesn't mind a knife end sticking into their ship!"  
  
The ship was definitely heading for Alice's Wonderland and from what she could tell, it was approaching the shore near the troll village. For half an hour the ship ploughed through the waters and all the while, Alice held on to her knife. While breathing he air of the ship she could hear voices from the other side of the hull. Some were gruff voices and some were high voices but they were all surely talking to each other with various levels of intensity. Alice pressed her ear (as best she could) to the hull and listened further.  
"Captain, at current speed we will reach the mainland in 10 minutes and we've already shifted the cargo up onto the main deck so we can get it onto the land."  
A voice, laced with authority gave it's response.  
"Very good, how did it take us to get here first mate?"  
This was obviously the captain.  
"It took us 7 hours at full steam ahead sir. A total speed of 35 knots."  
This voice sounded quite posh and sophisticated. It had an air of education and civilisation. Or at best it sounded coming through a metal hull and into Alice's ear. The captain spoke again.  
"All stations to landing and prepare to offload cargo as soon as we reach shore."  
"Yes sir!" replied a multitude of voices and they then began to natter amongst themselves discussing various bits of ships operations and trivia, until Alice jumped slightly at the sound of something hitting the floor. It sounded small and metal and It also ticked.  
"Someone's dropped their pocket watch!" thought Alice  
"I say, I dropped my pocket-watch under the table! I'd better go and get it then!" said one the first mate. Various shuffling noises were heard through the hull of the boat and suddenly, they stopped and gasped in surprise!  
"I say Captain! Look at this!" said the First mate in alarm.  
More shuffling noises were heard (now the captain was on the floor along with several others) and they all were surprised with what befell them.  
Two holes in the wall of the ship. One of the holes was very small, dark and had it's own set of teeth while the other whole was completely filled by a large knife protruding from it!  
"There's a knife sticking through the hull!" yelled the captain "Bring the engineer at once!" he ordered.  
Alice then heard footsteps accompanied by a slamming sound.  
A short time passed and she heard a door open, more shuffling and a lot of intelligent humming.  
"Well, what do you think?" asked the first mate  
"I think it's a knife!" replied the engineer.  
Alice heard the slow clapping of a sarcastic cabin boy then a thud as he had been clipped by one of his superiors.  
"I can see that but what does it mean?" asked the captain.  
The engineer thought to himself for a while. "We might have knocked against it whilst underway or it got pulled in by the propellers and jammed itself in to the hull. Here I'll fix it!"  
Alice noticed that the seabed below her was rising up to meet them and the pull from the propellers had began to slow down. This was fortunate for her because after a ear splitting KERRANG (ear splitting for her, as her ear was still on the hull) the engineer had obviously smacked her knife with a hammer and she was now loose and flailing towards the still turning propellers!  
Alice let out a bubbled scream as she closed her eyes in preparation for the inevitable when she smacked against the rotor which was much slower but still moving and Alice fell dark.  
  
Alice awoke to the sounds of sea birds flying over head and the gentle water rippling past her mouth causing to wake up spluttering. Alice had been knocked unconscious by the impact but thanks to the fact they were near the shoreline, the engines had stopped and she floated to the surface and was washed up on the shore, her knife missing.  
She snapped to her senses and dug in the sand looking for her blade but It was no where to be seen. She didn't notice all the strange, unfamiliar being standing all around her until they were quite on top of her and she looked into their hazy eyes. Alice looked at her creatures.  
They were moderately sized and came up to Alice's waist. They were all wearing uniforms of different types but all carrying a crest on the left breast which Alice found strangely familiar. (It looked like a large snark carrying a clock.) They had all pointed some devices towards her and followed her every move. Alice shivered slightly as she realised that these were weapons, and all four people standing around her on the floor had pointed them at her and intended to use them if she became a problem.  
Alice stood up, her head still aching from the impact. As she was taller than all the people, they stepped back in alarm but their weapons never moved from her.  
"You know, it's very rude to point your weapons at a stranger!" she insisted.  
"A friend wouldn't like it if I pointed it at them would they!" replied one creature.  
Alice was mildly offended, but keeping her temper, she introduced herself.  
"My name is Alice." she spoke "who is your leader, please?"  
A well dressed, slightly taller individual stepped forward. He was obviously of some important rank or position as his uniform was much more regal than any others she had seen.  
"I am Wave." He spoke in a medium toned voice. "Captain of the Bandersnatch trading vessel, Floggit"  
Alice suddenly jumped with surprise! So these little green skinned creatures were Bandersnatch! Alice almost jumped for joy at her discovery. But the thought of several weapons discharging into her with fear at her exclamations changed her mind.  
"So you're Bandersnatch!" She yelled "I've been looking for your people and I thought you lived across the sea somewhere."  
"By the site of our boat, I'm not surprised you think that!" replied a short but stout Bandersnatch.  
"Now she knows about us what do we do?" replied a regal voice. Alice recognised this person as the first mate. He was also elegantly dressed but not as much so as the captain.  
"I would like to dry off somewhat and I'm looking for my knife. I think it get washed up with me on the shore, have you seen it." She asked  
The stout person produced her vorpal blade from his pocket and held it in front of her. To everyone's amazement (except Alice's) it disappeared in a sparkle of blue energy and reappeared in her hand. The stout fellow was not impressed and focused his weapon on Alice's forehead.  
"How did you do that!" he ordered.  
"I don't know!" replied Alice honestly. "But I know this blade is a part of me and it will come to me eventually!"  
"A Vorpal Blade?" asked the captain.  
Alice was surprised.  
"Yes, how did you know?"  
"SNICKER SNACK!" yelled the stout creature and the other Bandersnatch who were working with several large crates had all drawn their weapons and had encircled Alice in less time it took her to blink. Now she was worried but it seemed she had an ally.  
"AS YOU WERE!" yelled the captain. And they all returned to what they were doing with similar speed.   
  
Alice looked sternly at the stout Bandersnatch.  
"And just who are you sir?" she asked as forceful as she could sound.  
"Able seaman Shift Bandersnatch. Head of cargo operations and ships security!" he barked back. Alice noticed he almost saluted but controlled himself and never wavered his weapon once from its target, her.  
"Miss Alice, if you'll come with me please." Said the captain. "and you get back to work!" he order to Shift, who then lowered his weapon and joined his comrades sorting the large crates.   
However he never took his eyes off her until he had to and he had fixed a glowing stare of suspicion onto her. He did not trust this person. For a start she wasn't Bandersnatch and for another, it was her knife sticking through the hull of the captains room.  
Alice knew she had made an enemy and would have to keep her eyes on him but that wasn't important now as the Captain and First mate were leading her onto the gangplank and into the large vessel.  



	8. Starting for someone elses home

Alice stepped aboard the mighty vessel accompanied by the Captain and the First mate and she was impressed by what she saw. She remembered from a long time ago that she had been on a large ship before while her parents had made a trip to Europe and this boat Alice found surprisingly large for the small people who sailed upon it. In consideration, the Bandersnatch were not very tall to begin with but the boat was large in all aspects as they walked down the many corridors which seemed to go on without end.  
"We're taking you to the bridge." Said the captain "You're the first off-lander to ever board her you see. And after we reach the bridge we'll assign you some quarters for the duration of the journey."  
"Thank you, Captain" Alice replied. She felt compelled to ask. "What was in those large boxes you left on the beach, Sir?"  
"They're full of Banderscotch!" interrupted the First Mate. His tone said "how stupid can you get?" which Alice picked up on and gave him a stern look which unnerved him slightly but he regained his composure, like an officer.  
They passed through a large steel door with a single wheel in the middle and a small porthole above the centre and they entered the bridge.  
There were stations and contraptions of all description in every direction, all with various bandersnatch manning them. A large curved wall of glass stood on the opposite side of the door which gave Alice a large view of the shoreline, and she could see the large crates being moved away by various crewman and then running back to the ship. In front of the window stood the helm of the wheel. The large oak wheel was almost as tall as her as she ran her fingers over the curved frame. She looked down and saw a small set of stops in front, leading to the wheel. Alice surmised that the bandersnatch, being of different sizes were not all capable of griping and steering successfully so the steps had been introduced. It made perfect sense to her but she could steer with only slight difficulty.  
The captain walked across the neatly polished wooden floors, climbed the steps and clasped both hands on the wheel. He turned his head around to Alice and spoke.  
"Please sit down my dear, We are about to leave."  
Alice found this strange as a chair appeared on the deck where none had been before, however it did look comfortable with padded leather, so she sat and watched expectantly. The strange thing about being in wonderland (especially for her) was that when you needed something to fix a problem, it appeared suddenly and silently. She remembered the time in the small room when she was of little height and couldn't reach the key for the door on the glass table and a box of biscuits appeared with "eat me" written on it. She snapped her concentration back to real events (she did wish her mind wouldn't wander so in case she missed something.) and waited expectantly.  
  
The bridge was now hustle and bustle with various small crew members running to their stations ready for the captains orders, whatever they may be.  
"All back full!" yelled the captain. "Reverse all engines!"  
"All back full!" echoed the First mate and the chorus of orders reverberated around the bridge as all members present repeated it and carried out some task to follow the order.  
A voice sounded through a little box above the window. Alice had never seen a talking box before and she was quite intrigued. It was coming from below in the engine room.  
"Engine room, Bridge, sir" the voice sounded "all engines ready at your disposal, captain!"  
The captain picked up a little box on a stand next to the wheel and spoke into it.  
"Thank you engine room, get ready!" he ordered and pulled a large lever on the other side of the wheel backwards onto a label of "reverse".  
The whole ship shimmered and vibrated as the engines below heaved into action and Alice could see through the window that the shore had begun to move away from them very slowly but with increasing speed. A few moments passed and they were moving moderately fast away from the shore, the crewmembers all looking to either their stations or the Captain. The captain turned the giant wheel to the left and the ship began to rotate, leaning to the side slightly. Alice instinctively held onto the arms of the chair (who then complained about her grip) as her surroundings all veered to one side. The ship was turning around, away from her Wonderland and turning to point somewhere she had only created in an unconscious thought in the back of her mind. (She was wandering again!)  
The Captain centred the wheel and reached for the lever once more. He thrusted it all the way forward and the who ship was hurled back upon itself as the engines began to slow down and spin in the opposite direction, moving them forward. Alice could not see anything out of the window ahead of them but empty seas. If they were heading somewhere, it was a very long way away. Alice wondered to herself on where the skool beneath them was and how the old turtle was doing all by himself down there. However, a comforting feeling swept across her when she realised he was probably sleeping through life until someone or something woke him up.  
"I wonder if the engine noise will wake old "Tortoise"?" Alice thought to herself "It is rather powerful and I know because I nearly got pulled into it!"  
  
The captain signalled to the First Mate who then stepped up and took over control of the wheel as his superior approached his guest.   
"Miss Alice," he began politely. "Now that we are underway I'm sure that you are anxious to see your quarters?"  
"Actually, I'm more curious about the engine room and that small box you talked into!" she replied enthusiastically.  
The captain took the box from the stand next to the wheel. "We call it a natterbox Miss." And held the box in her direction to give her a better look. "We bandersnatch use them to communicate with each other. There are plenty on the ship and hundreds more back home, here let me demonstrate."  
The captain held the box to his ear and mouth and ordered to one of the crew near the back of the bridge, "Get me the Engine room!"  
A small bandersnatch was fiddling with his control box, pulling levers and pressing buttons and doing various other activities which Alice had no idea about until he stopped and nodded towards the captain who pushed a button on the box's stand and replaced it. The same voice from earlier came out of the box above the front windows, simple and rough sounding.  
"Engine room," it said "Yes captain?"  
"Chief," began the captain "we have a visitor on board and she would like to talk to you and you will address her as Miss Alice, understood?"  
"Yes sir, just don't be long! It's quite busy down here!" he barked.  
Alice stepped up to the box and cautiously looked it over. She never thought that today she would be talking to a box and expect it to give an intelligent (if not hurried or rude) conversation.  
"Err, hello?" she asked nervously.  
"Hello, Miss Alice." replied the chief "How can I help you?"  
Alice hadn't the slightest idea.  
"Just wondering what it's like where you are and if I may visit later?" she replied.  
"Well, it's very noisy and it's quite dirty Miss. I suppose you can come for a visit but don't stay too long! We've got a lot on our plate right now!"  
On that note, the Captain stepped up beside her and gestured for her to return to her seat.  
"Understood chief, but It's getting late in the day and I think she'll want to retire for the night. Are you coming to the officers mess for dinner?"  
"Not tonight sir," replied the Chief with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice "I've got to keep an eye on the works down here for a while. Sorry 'bout that"  
"Quite alright Chief, I'm sure your doing a good job down there. Bridge out." And the Captain pressed another button switching off the natterbox and silencing the voice of the Chief and the background hissing of the engines. He turned towards Alice slightly disappointed.  
"I'm sure you've had a tiring day miss?" he asked  
"Well after swimming an awful long way and almost getting chopped into pieces by your engine, I'm rather tired!" Alice replied. The hint of sarcasm glistened in the air of the bridge which the captain almost missed. But laughed as he thought she was joking.  
"Very funny miss! Very good. I'll escort you to the guest quarters" and walked of the bridge with the assumption she would follow him. And she almost did except for a brief second, she looked at one of the maps on the chart table and saw a small island or peninsular with a line running from it to wonderland. (This was obviously the ships course between the two places) further examination of the papers revealed a tiny label above the island.   
It read:  
"Bandersnatch Isle"  
This was her destination, and followed the captain to her room.  
  
The room was not too far away from the bridge. The designers of the ship thought it would be good for the passengers if they were close to the action if any happened and designed the rooms accordingly, much to the objection of the Bandersnatch Navy as tourists got in their way.  
The captain opened the door and revealed a small but cosy little room. The bed was covered in a bedspread which was lined with fine lace and frills. There was a chest of draws on the far wall with a large mirror on top of them with little compartments on top of the compartment. A small table and bed light was next to the bed with small draws which could contain books and tapestry. Alice thought this was a convenient surprise as the room was obviously meant for a woman and queried the captain accordingly.  
"Oh yes!" he replied "this room is meant for female usage and all the fixtures and fittings have been added and adjusted for that purpose. Women like to pamper themselves so the mirror is large and there are spaces for books and embroidery to pass the time. I think you'll agree that the bed is quite comfortable, please try it." Alice sat on the bed and found it exceedingly comfortable for her back. When staying with her friend the gnome elder in the village she had to sleep on the floor and her bed at Rutledges for many years was cold and sometimes damp. She felt she would have her first good nights sleep for a long time and smiled at the captain. Something she rarely did in recent times.  
"Ah good. In that case. I shall leave you to get some sleep, as you told me on the bridge, you have had a busy day and I would be quite exhausted after your adventures."  
"I am rather tired and I'm looking forward to the rest!" said Alice and remembered where she was and where she was going "How long until we reach our destination, Captain?"  
The captain remembered the travel time from all the previous journeys. "At full speed it will take us just under a day. We should arrive on the coast by supper time tomorrow and I'll arrange for you to stay in some accommodation on the land if you wish or you may stay aboard ship?"  
"I'll let you know, Goodnight captain." Said Alice, determined to get to bed.  
"Sleep well miss and the key to your door is in the top drawer of your bedside cabinet." He replied. He snapped to attention for a moment and closed the door, Alice was slightly unnerved to hear the lock "clank" shut but reassured herself that being the captain, he must have a skeleton key to all decks.  
Alice removed her dress, folded it up and placed it over the foot of the bed and took her boots off placing them in front of the dressing table. Alice climbed into bed in her underwear and wrapped herself in the warm blankets feeling as snug as a bandersnatch in the guest quarters and fell asleep almost instantly.   
She would have sweet dreams in such a comfortable bed. But she wouldn't if she knew who was conspiring down below in the lower decks.  



	9. Bounty

Deep in the now empty holds of the transport ship, a few small and seedy crewmates were gathering. At the centre of the group was Shift Bandersnatch. He didn't like Alice from the moment he clapped eyes on her and being the "action" type bandersnatch he was, he decided to do something about it.  
He and his half a dozen friends (or associates) were gathered in the bowls of the cargo deck behind some moving equipment and they all had not a good thought between them. Occasionally looking around them to see if anyone was listening but they were quite alone. Shift who knew about the Watcher core was greatly relieved to see that they didn't install their "eyes" on cargo ship so they were the perfect place for some suspicious plotting.  
He gestured over to his men and they all huddled around him in anticipation. Being shifty made his plans quick and hard.  
"Ok fellas" he began. His gruff voice rumbling around him as if to remind everyone he was the one talking and listening was in their best interest. "you know the girls aboard and I heard that when she gets onto them mainland, she's gonna have a price on her head, but she doesn't know it yet."  
A general murmur of agreement and acknowledgement echoed between the mob  
"So what I think is that we nab the girl before we reach land and take the booty for ourselves and share it out! What do ya think?"  
"Sound like a good idea boss!" grunted one of his henchmen with just about everyone following the one who was brave enough to speak.  
"Everyone got their blinkers with them?" shift asked.  
On his question, everyone had un-holstered their weapons and cocked them in readiness. Each and everyone of them knew that the fire from them was going to be shot at a little girl in the near future.  
"Right, here's the plan" said Shift and pulled out a map of the command deck where Alice's room was located. Her room was highlighted in blue with arrows curving around the corridors on both sides. For a seemingly stupid individual, sometimes he was more clever than he looked.  
"Right I want you three (and pointed to some of his cronies) to come around the left hand side of the room and wait for my signal while the rest of us go around the opposite side and wait. Then we'll have the little darling in a cross file when we start shooting."  
"She'll be no trouble boss!" snorted one guy. "Well turn her into mincemeat!"  
Everyone was laughing quietly to themselves except Snatch who punched him in the head, knocking him flying and shutting up everyone else.  
"Idiot!" he yelled "We don't want to kill her, we just want to knock her out! So don't use full strength on your blinkers yea scurvy lot!"  
Heads were bowed and weapons were scaled down almost in disappointment. This bunch liked to do their job and leave very little behind. Especially if it was very little of a person they left behind!  
Shift smiled for a moment.  
"The more there is of her, they more money we'll get!"  
There was a loud chorus of laughter and they all rose to do they job with Snatch leading in their wake through the holds and around the corridors. They went quietly as not to wake anyone up and they all knew that all the officers were either dining or asleep to notice them and what they were doing.  
They all tiptoed around the ship and up many flights of stairs towards the command decks all with their weapons holstered for the time being. On ship is was customary to holster all weapons until the order was given to use them.  
They were getting closer and closer to their targets room and all drew their weapons , ready for action and unbeknown by their target.  
  
Alice was sitting in the fields of wonderland relaxing for the first time in ages talking to her friend the White rabbit who for once was not in a hurry to get anywhere. She was making a daisy chain with flowers from a nearby flowerbed in the vale of tears, something she had not done for a long time and she was remembering to enjoy herself. She could feel the smooth breeze flowing around her, fragranced by lavender and soothed by the sounds of the nearby babbling brook. It was babbling to a bunch of nearby tiger-Lilly's about how it's journey from the say had been and what a beautiful day it was to be running along, slightly disheartening the flowers as they couldn't move anywhere if they wanted to.  
Alice felt the blazing heat of the sun on her face and felt the beads of sweat rolling down her face and beneath her dress. Her solution? A drink from the stream may help, so she raised herself and skipped sprightly over to the trickling waters in search of cool refreshment. She paused for a moment to sit down by the riverbank and scooped her hands into the water which was cool and fresh, just the way she wanted it! She scooped another handful of the water onto her face, hitting herself with an instant chill which was totally short lived as the bright sun shone down upon her and the green glade she was siting on as all manner of creatures below it were having a good day. She looked down into the stream to see her reflection below her, smiling back at her. She bowed her head in respect but her reflection has changed to an expression of horror!  
Alice was shocked to see such a face and suddenly and without warning, the ground started to rumble beneath her in short bursts but getting steadily larger. She looked up to see the White rabbit running as fast as he could across the meadow, his face (what she could se of it) twisted by immense worry and immediate distress. He looked at the surface of the water and ran away even faster.  
Alice looked once again into the surface but this time, not even her reflection was looking back at her and the rumbling of the ground was getting heavier. The flowers on the opposite side of the bank had all shut their petals around them as if to shield them from what was approaching and the river beneath her had begun to flow rapidly in the direction is was running , trying to flee!  
Suddenly it all stopped!  
All was silent.  
Alice froze.  
A familiar high voice broke the silence!  
  
"Your hair wants cutting!"  
  
Alice turned around !  
Just in time to see the Hatter arching his cane to her head!  
"And maybe your NECK could use a trim!"  
He swing his cane down upon her  
Alice screamed as loud as she could!  
  
She awoke screaming in her bed with sweat dampening on her pillow and her breathing sharp and rapid in total fear and shock. It was just a dream, but something was wrong.  
Alice jumped out of bed and dressed herself in a hurry, not forgetting to retrieve her knife from the drawer where a book would normally go and placed it in her dress pocket. Looking in her mirror on her dressing table she straightened her dress out and mopped her brow with her handkerchief, that was a dream she wouldn't like to repeat any time soon she thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her cabin door. She felt the knife in her pocket and opened the door to find nobody waiting there. Alice stepped outside to take a better look.  
"THERE SHE IS BOYS!" yelled a voice "SHOOT!"  
Several loud clicks were followed by several high screeching sounds in both directions. Alice lunged herself against the floor just missing the shots and allowing them to slam into the people on the opposite sides of each other, knocking them off their feet.  
Alice drew her knife and threw it at the only person she found familiar. Shift Bandersnatch.  
Her Vorpal bladed sliced through the air and imbedded itself in his hand which then slammed against the wall leaving him stuck to the wall and clenching his wrist in pain. All of the other members had started top run but received another 2 shots each by security officers who had arrived on the scene accompanied by the captain who was still dressed in his pyjamas.  
  
"What happened Miss Alice?" as he looked about him at the crew members who were unconscious and Shift who was crying with pain nursing is bleeding hand.  
"I heard a knocking on my door and when I went out to see who it was, I was fired on by all of the people. Unfortunately for them they managed to shoot themselves." She replied.  
The captain glanced again at Shift and raised his palm towards his miserable mutineer as if looking for an explanation.  
"He was the only one I recognised so I……err…...incapacitated him"  
"In a very brutal way miss! I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate your weapon for the duration of the voyage."  
Alice couldn't believe she was hearing this"  
"They attacked me Captain!" Alice yelled in protest. But calmed herself as she noticed that two of the security officers had pointed her weapons at her. She relaxed her tone somewhat. "I meant no trouble, I was simply defending myself."  
"I understand that miss. Replied the captain and signalled his men to stand down. "in that case I will assign you a security officer?"  
"No need captain, I can take care of myself as you can see" and nodded towards Shift.  
The captain nodded but was repelled by the sight of her knife sticking the crewman's hand to the bulkhead and he asked her to remove it. Alice lifted her hand to beside her shoulder and looked at the knife which then flew through the air once again and came to rest in her hand, making the captain gasp and the security officers jump. He turned to his mean and gave his orders.  
"Take the prisoners to the brig and take Shift to the infirmary for his injury. Then put him in the brig and we'll question them tomorrow! In the mean time Alice, I suggest you return to bed and I'll leave a guard on your door, I insist."  
"If you must" replied Alice begrudgingly feeling like an overprotected little girl again which she hated.  
The officers carried the unconscious crewmen on their shoulders and two others waved their weapons in the direction of the corridor obliging Shift Bandersnatch to walk in front of them, but he scowled at Alice, nursing his hand before he was out of sight.  
Alice thought it would be best if she returned to bed so she returned to her room with the officer standing to attention outside. She hoped she would not dream again but why she dreamt of the hatter was beyond her as he had been dead (or dismantled) for sometime now. She once again got undressed and climbed into bed.  
But this time, she slept with her blade under the pillow. Just in case.  



	10. Dont blink, or you'll miss it!

Alice awoke after a dreamless nights sleep (much to her delight to see nothing instead of any of her old friends) and got ready to face the day. She reminded herself that today she would be arriving in a place that would be totally unfamiliar to her. She hadn't even learnt what kind of buildings there would be, and even if there were any buildings, maybe the island was just a big grassy field. However judging by the boat she was currently travelling in, there had to be somewhere to make all the parts and put them together. Hence, buildings. And big ones too.  
Alice was about to walk out of the door when she stopped herself for a moment and looked towards her bed. Her knife was still under the pillow from the previous night in case of another incident so she decided to take it along with her. In case bad degenerated into worse, she was going to be prepared if trouble came looking for her. She slipped the knife into her dress pouch (her favourite place) and strolled outside to see the security guard outside her door with his weapon holstered and himself being stood to attention, however, he did have very large bags under his eyes.  
"If you're tired you'd better go and rest yourself sir." She said in a slightly demanding voice.  
The guard was like every other bandersnatch she had seen except he was more stockier and more broader than others. It was obvious he was employed in some work of an aggressive nature. Despite his large frame of a creature he was, he was feeling the ill effects from the absence of a good nights sleep.  
"I'm not sure young miss." He replied nervously (and groggily) "My orders are to watch your door all night."  
"Well since it's morning, you don't have to do that anymore, do you?"  
She had a point.  
"I suppose so, Thank you miss!" replied the guard and he started to walk back to his room but Alice stopped him.  
"What s your name please?" she asked politely  
"Eh?" he answered sleepily. "Oh my name. It's bricks. Bricks Bandersnatch"  
"Do all your people have the same last name?" she asked. It was a valid question as all the members of his race had the same surname, but all different first names.  
"Well we are Bandersnatch aren't we?" he replied as though it was a stupid question.  
"Yes I suppose so, but I'm a human, and my names not Alice Human?"  
Bricks looked at her in total surprise. For him, this was an unusual thing to say because all the people he knew were bandersnatch and she was the first non-bandersnatch he had ever met and she seemed nice enough.  
"Well if you put it like that, maybe it is a bit strange but I think we may all be related down the line somewhere. It's too early to think! And rubbed his eyes. The bags opened and a large chunk of sleep fell out of them and landed on his foot. He picked it up and crushed it into dust in his hand. Alice had had sleep in her eye before but it was never that big. He must not have slept for several days.  
"Haven't you been asleep at all?" she asked  
"I've been patrolling for the past three nights so I'm looking forward to this!" and he strolled off down the corridor.  
"They must train their officers very well," Alice thought to herself "or feed them just as energetically!" and headed off towards the bridge, still amazed.  
  
She reached the bridge which was guarded by two officers (similar in size to Bricks) and the door was a lot more heavy-duty looking than the other side. It had a variety of locks and gyros on this side to obviously stopping rogue elements getting in. ("one of those out but not in doors" Alice thought).  
The officers looked her over and spotted the knife blade sticking out of her pocket and momentarily stopped her. They looked at each other as if searching for what to do.   
"Very well miss" said one of them gruffly "but no slicing fun or you're asking for it!"  
They opened the door and Alice stepped through. She reasoned, that it was good advice to do as one is told by two people of that size. Trouble would definitely be in similar proportion to the person or persons who administered it (and those guards were huge!)  
The bridge was aglow by the sunlight passing through the windscreen and shining on the decks below and all the crew who worked on them. There was only sparse clouding in the sky as if it knew not to spoil the day pouring down upon them as they made good speed towards their destination at speeds which Alice thought were uncommon for a vessels of such size.  
The Captain turned his chair in her direction and smiled at her.  
"Good Morning miss Alice!" he began "Since it's such a nice day, how about a stroll on the deck so we can enjoy the day?"  
"That would be lovely." Replied Alice  
"First mate, You have the bridge till I return."  
"Yes sir." Replied the first mate in his aristocratic voice and he took the chair as he watched the captain descend the stairs to the deck.  
The decking was made of wood all arranged with equal precision, (Alice had noticed this type of arrangement on ships in her world in her memories) and walking was no more tiring to the feet than running was. All about them, many bandersnatch were doing various duties from scrubbing the decks to washing the windows. (For a moment Alice thought she saw them poking out of the ships funnels which were bellowing black smoke) To her slight misery, all of them were scowling of frowning at her after the events of last night as Shift was a popular member of the lower ranks of the crew and him being in imprisoned in the brig did not gain much for her in the way of respect. However their looks of discontentment all stopped when they saw the captain beside her. She had inadvertently chosen a good ally for her voyage.  
"While I think on sir, What happened to the crewmen who tries to attack me?"  
"They are all in the brig awaiting trial when we get back to the island and then they will be punished accordingly. But all we can do for now is hold them." The captain replied.  
Alice looked about her at the many bandersnatch doing their duties, noticing their reaction to her presence.  
"I fear I'm causing a bad reaction amongst your crew, judging by their looks!"  
The captain looked at his crew, but he saw not a stern or condescending look towards him and he was satisfied all was well. His authoritarian complex could blind him sometimes as Alice had witnessed such occurrences with people like the tweedles and the Jabberwock.  
Alice felt it necessary to change the subject as the topic of rebellion and mutiny with such company was impolite and she did not wish to invite more trouble.  
"Captain I have noticed you have strange weapons, could you explain them to me?" she asked.  
He unholstered his firearm and presented it to her for her to examine to satisfy her curiosity.  
"Well, we call them blinkers," he explained "Inside that round area at the end is the eye of a jabberspawn and you select the intensity of the blast with that dial on the top section."  
(Alice saw a small turntable with the numbers one to ten stencilled around it. It was currently set at 1)  
  
"To fire it, you pull the trigger in that small alcove and the round chamber "blinks" open briefly depending on the setting of the dial to such effect and intensity. Then the energy is released into a pulse which is a short burst."  
"I used to have a bandersnatch eye staff in my collection a while ago." Alice retorted "This seems to be a scaled down version?"  
"In a sense that is true," he replied "such items of weaponry are worth a lot in modern times as they are quite powerful. There haven't been too many fully grown Jabberwocks that I know of. Why don't you try that weapon on that barrel over there?"  
He gesture over to a barrel which was standing on the edge of the ship next to a sturdy bandersnatch who was collecting some rope, tying it up and forming knots of almost beautiful design.  
"Aim the eye at the barrel and squeeze the trigger."  
Alice closed her left eye and centred her remaining eye over the sphere of the weapon and straightened her arms towards the barrel. She held the gun with steady precision, placed her finger on the trigger and squeezed gently. She felt the gun warming up slightly and bent her arm slightly to see if she had done anything incorrectly but the weapon discharged a moment later and the bolt of energy hit the seaman who was tying the rope! It impacted into his shoulder and knocked him off his feet and crashing through the barrel that was Alice's intended target.  
  
The force of the blast was not powerful enough to cause him any amount of physical harm except for a mildly charred patch on his garment and a somewhat bruised shoulder which he was rubbing in mild discomfort. He suddenly snapped his head in her direction, his eyes glowing with anger. He had no injuries, but his pride had taken a serious blow as he stood up and walked towards her pulling something from a tool-belt around his waist. He had drawn a large mallet, similar in size to Alice's blade and composed of wood. He clenched it with both hands and made a swing for her head.  
Alice in the mean time had dropped the blinker and drew her own blade out in one nervous but well practised move and easy parried his blow. She was surprised that the blade had not sliced through the material of the hammer as they both stood with their arms locked together, vying to knock the other to the floor. This intense (yet silent) conflict was ended by the captain picking up the weapons and pointing it at the crewman's head which followed by a clicking as the weapon became cocked with the captains finger on the trigger.  
"I think you'd better go to the sickbay and get that shoulder seen to, crewman!?" he ordered and for the first time in Alice's perception, he had sounded aggressive and demanding.  
The crewman slowly placed his weapon back in his tool-belt and stood to attention. Alice felt it prudent to keep her knife drawn for the time being in case the captain s orders were not as solid effecting on this large bandersnatch.  
"That's alright sir, it's just a mild burn and a bruise." His tone suggested hi was seriously, not impressed and his wide eyes never left Alice's.  
Alice tried to remedy the situation as best as she could and re-sheathed her knife.  
"I'm sorry about that, truly I am. That was the first time I've used a blinker". She said timidly  
That seemed to help as the bandersnatch smiled slightly and his expression eased somewhat.  
"That's quite alright miss, I shot me own captain when I first fired mine!" and he laughed slightly.  
He bowed to Alice in apology and Alice curtseyed in reply.  
"That's better." Said the Captain "we're all friends again, what?"  
  
Alice remembered something from last nights conversation.  
"Captain is the dinner still taking place in the officers mess tonight?" she asked.  
"Why yes Miss Alice why?"  
"Well could I invite this person and someone else I met to the dinner? It would be my way of apologising?"  
The bandersnatchs' eyes open wide. He had never been invited to the officers mess before and he was shocked that someone who had just shot him wished to invite him.  
"Why of course Alice!" replied the captain.  
"Who are you sir?" asked Alice.  
"Lash Bandersnatch miss, rope technician." He replied.  
"Then report to the officers mess hall at 8 bells thirty tonight. Now return to your duties please." Ordered the captain and lash went back to his job of tying his ropes by the barrel (which was now in pieces)  
"Captain, I believe you promised me a tour of the engine room yesterday?" queried Alice  
"Very well miss" replied the Captain "But his time I'll keep my sidearm to myself" and the both descended the steps into the deep recesses of the ship.  



	11. Heat, Down in the works

The Engine room was very similar to what Alice had encountered in her journey through the queens keep back in Wonderland. Dozens of large pistons, each bellowing great amounts of steam in to he surroundings making the place almost unbearably hot. Large cogs and gyros were all ticking and tocking about the place and they all drove great machines which powered and propelled the ship to wherever it needed to be. All the machinations in the room seemed to be moving very quickly than any clockwork apparatus Alice had previously encountered (even in it's enlarged state). They must be travelling very fast indeed.  
The descended into the engine floor which (was at the very bottom of the ship) and amidst the steam and the intense heat, there were still people hauling heavy bits of clockwork and machinery about which were undoubtedly quite heavy for any normal person (or bandersnatch) to carry. Alice found the heat extremely uncomfortable and could hardly touch anything metallic for fear of burning her hand quite badly so she kept her distance from most things and let the captain lead the way carefully.  
He himself was feeling the adverse affects of the heat and had reached into his pocket of his tunic, pulled out his handkerchief and was beginning to mop his brow, cleaning the sweat which was rolling down his green skin. He looked about the floor to try and find the engineer but to no avail and his calls for attention were drowned almost to a whisper by the constant grinding and heavy motion of the machinery in all direction. He finally grabbed an engineer and appeared (from Alice's' point of view) to yell into his ear with all his might. Alice reasoned that the sound was so intense that any shouting would be normal decibel level near an ear so he wouldn't damage his workman.  
  
After much head shaking and hand gesturing from both persons, the engineer finally dropped his cog wheel and pointed over to a small complex near a large piston cylinder near an equally giant rotor which looked like the inside of the propellers. The captain gestured "thank you" in the best way he could to the crewman who then picked up his wheel and continued on his way through a vent of steam.  
The captain went over to Alice and pressed the side of his head against hers (she had to bend down slightly to accommodate his request, of course) and he yelled into her ear. She could hear as though he was talking but he was straining his voice somewhat.  
"Follow me miss," shouted the Captain. "The Chief is in the engine control room near his office." And waved for her to follow him.  
Alice had never walked through such an inhospitable climate before in her life. Being British, she was used to the cold but not heat of this intensity in all of the English summers she had spent with her sister and all the places she had been (in this world and it's real counterpart) as they moved though a chain of men carrying various tools and banging engines and rotors into place with their mallets. (The tortoise was right about the hammers, she thought to herself)  
  
After a few minutes, they reached a small room which had bright lights emerging from the frosted windows surrounded by firm iron plating. There were pipes coming out of it's walls and heading in all directions, obviously carrying instructions to the engines and taking measurements and other vital statistics. An iron door with large bolts around it was prominently shown in one wall of the boxed room and it had a large wheel attached to like, similar to the watertight locks on the bridge and other vital areas Alice had seen on ship. Alice was hesitant to touch it for fear of burning her hands and the captain was just as objective for exactly the same reasons. He gestured to Alice, and since he was the captain and she was the guest, she had to follow his orders. She crept closer to the door and gingerly touched the wheel for a split second. It was cold!?  
Or it was more to the point that it was cold compared to everything machine, piece of metal and even the air in the engine room which Alice struggled to breathe. (The humidity of the room was almost totally moist). She grabbed the wheel with both hands and turned it with all her might in a clockwise direction and after a quarter turn, it opened slowly releasing a blast of fresh air and a slight chill into their faces, making them shiver for a moment before the blazing heat reasserted itself.  
  
A group of workers behind them working on one of the engines suddenly looked up at each other and huddled together for a little chat. They all nodded their heads sequentially and returned to work all agreeing that someone had opened the double door to the control room.  
  
Alice and the Captain stepped into the small compartment, closed the door and gave the wheel a hefty turn in the opposite direction to seal it. Almost automatically, a hissing noise filled their ears and a rush of fresh, cooled air swept upon them from all directions for a few brief but wonderful seconds as their temperature returned to normal and a large green light appeared on the door opposite their point of entry followed by a loud "clank" as the wheel on the opposite door turned by itself and swung open and revealed the engine control room. They stepped through the door (which slammed behind them making Alice jump) into a nicely chilled room similar to the bridge, but a lot more valves, controls and other items which helped to control the management of the engines fuming and grinding away outside.  
Although the number of controls were extensive, they seemed to be little or no bandersnatch presence as most of the controls and levers were operating themselves.   
"If it weren't for the chief and a couple of others, this room would be deserted." Piped up the captain.  
"If the bridge is the brain of the ship, what function does this room have?" asked Alice.  
"If we're going to talk anatomically, I'd say the legs and stomach as all the work is done down here."  
A door on the wall to the left slid open and a person dressed in overalls stepped out.  
"I should bloody well think so too at the speed you have us going out there!" replied the person  
"Alice, may I introduce the chief of the engine room, Mister Gyro Bandersnatch."   
Gyro offered his hand to Alice to shake, but Alice declined as it was covered in grease and grime that would spoil her dress, so she curtseyed instead. Gyro seemed dubious but the led them into a comfortable looking room, complete with a comfortable couch and several small tables all with light refreshments on it. (Mostly water and above all Banderscotch!)  
  
Alice had not had banderscotch since she was in the cathedral city with her former friend Christopher and she had missed it. Aside from being a slightly warm drink (which wasn't a good idea while the heat outside was intense enough to blister ones skin in moments) it had an intoxicating effect that Alice rather enjoyed. The state of being "tipsy" for her was quite enjoyable as nothing in her time in the asylum had made her feel as jolly. Some of the chemicals the doctors used make her head more elevated than usual, but they lacked the happiness that was blended into the banderscotch.  
"A drink miss," offered Gyro "A glass of water perhaps?"  
"I'd prefer the Banderscotch if you don't mind!" replied Alice enthusiastically. "It's been such a long time since I had some last and in this cold room, I think I can risk it."  
Gyro turned to the Captain and smiled, eyebrows raised.  
"I like this girl already!" he laughed and poured a glass of Banderscotch for him and her (the captain opted for the water.)  
Alice sat in a padded chair which instantly relaxed her back as she sipped on her drink. As the liquid flowed over tongue it raised all her taste buds to an etheric place of delight and cushioned her brain around a large cosy blanket. The drink moved down her throat and into her stomach where it left a golden trail behind it which she found warm and extremely pleasing but she noticed (difficulty, as her body was too busy enjoying itself from the experience) that the liquid had no similar effects on the engineer which raised many questions in the young ladies mind.  
Maybe that was why Banderscotch was so popular among the residents of wonderland and also why the bandersnatch were moving large barrels of the liquor to them. The effects had not been present in their chemistry or prolonged consumption of the drink dulled it's effects? As this second thought passed through her mind, she placed her glass upon the table not wanting to spoil the sensations too soon.  
  
"So Captain, I heard you had new orders for me and you were delivering them personally?" began the engineer, wiping his mouth with the greasy rag poking out of his overall pocket. "They must be important for you to walk down here while we're at full speed!"  
This puzzled Alice. She had not heard of any orders yet and she didn't like being kept in the dark about things around her.  
"All I was going to say was that I want to slow the ship down so that we may reach dock by tomorrow morning. I want to hold a banquet in the officers mess for the lady before we reach land."  
The request (by way of the chief reaction) seemed to be a god send wrapped up in twenty barrels of Banderscotch.  
"That'll make the lads happy. They can stop working in the sweltering heat and take the night off in here with a few glasses of Bandershock and they'll be happy as a Cheshire cat."  
Alice smiled at the chiefs remark and wondered how her feline associate was doing back on land as he wouldn't have anything to do with water or going near it. Alice's smile disappeared. She felt guilty about leaving him back on the land and not taking him with her as they made two parts of a whole and without him she felt vulnerable. A feeling Alice never wished upon herself. She snapped herself back into reality. Bandershock?  
"Bandershock?" she repeated her thoughts. "What's Bandershock?"  
The engineer smiled and brought up a bottle onto the safe. Alice thought it was similar to a brandy decanter but the liquid inside wasn't a browny red, it was a deep shade of blue. Alice didn't like the look of it as the chief had to bring it out of a safe! If this was a drink, it should be handled with care. He pored a small amount of it into a small glass, no bigger than one measure In volume and pushed the tiny container over to her side of the table.  
"You drink that and I'll reset the controls in the room!" the chief uttered and walked through the door. His head poked around the door a moment later.  
"But If I were you I'd wait for me!" and disappeared, closing the door behind him.  
  
Alice looked at the smal glass of liquid below her. The deep blue was foreboding enough but it was the smell of the noxious fumes that repelled her the most. Alice could smell it was extraordinarily strong and for the first time in a while, hesitated.  
Suddenly the whole ship let out a low, descending hum and some of the bottles on the table slipped across the surface for no more than 10 centimeters and Alice felt an invisable force pushing her to arch her back.  
"Ah I see he's slowed us down" piped up the captain. "And if you want my opinion, I'd have second thoughts about drinking that stuff!"  
"Is it Banderscotch?" Alice asked nervously but was interrupted by the hissing, sliding door as the engineer returned from the control room.  
"Nope!" he gruffed "But you may want to hold your nose if it's your first one."  
Alice was now nervous!  
"If one drinks much from a bottle marked poison." Alice thought. But she was now becoming aware of Gyros eyes constantly shifting between the glass in her hand and her in expectation. She raised the glass in toast and swallowed the liquid in one gulp. And instantly regretted it  
  
The back of Alice's throat felt like she had just swallowed a cup of molten lava and she had lurched out of her chair and was now writhing on the floor, her stomach trying to lurch her whole body out of it. The warm sensation in her head from the banderscotch had agressivly dissapeared and was replaced with a large headache which lasted for a brief moment. And then it all subsided.  
Alice couldn't feel her legs as she tried to get up and could feel her consciousness slipping away from her to let her brain re-assert itself from the shock but she managed to get out a single sentence (albeit, very blurred)  
"What is this?" she stammered.  
"Good job you didn't sip it eh?" replied the engineer "Sometimes we use that stuff to jump start the engines with!"  
Alice laughed for a moment, then she blacked out.  
  



	12. Clouded Vision

Alice felt the cold, moist air around the exposed parts of her skin and the shivering awoke her as she opened her eyes to nothing. In fact it was a white/grey nothing which resembled a deep fog in all directions. She rubbed her eyes to be sure and looked again. Yes, it was a dense fog. A deep fog all about her reducing the vision to nothing. Alice thought to herself and pulled out her blade and began to cut a square in front of her so she could see what was behind the gloomy vale that surrounded her. She cut out the square which then proceeded to fall out into her outstretched hands in readiness. The cube of mist simply landed in her arms and began to bleed away onto the floor and turn back into the mist from whence it came, Alice looked through the square she had cut in anticipation but found only more mist which was now creeping in to replace the hole in its dense bulk. Alice shrugged her shoulders in futility and began to walk through the mist, her arms outstretched in case she ran into something hidden by the fog.   
"Hello?" she shouted, "Is anyone there?"   
And for a while there was silence, and the silence continued for along time only to be broken slightly by the occasional draught of wind that carried the fog along with it and made her shiver. Her surroundings were quite depressing for her in a way. She couldn't see anyone as there was nobody to be seen, she couldn't hear anyone except the of the wind ghostly whistling past her and she was becoming more and more cold as the dampness of the fog nipped her exposed flesh and began to dampen all her clothes with the exception of her leather boots. Suddenly and without warning, a small wind crept past her neck and breezed past her ear, it seemed to be saying something in a familiar tone but the fog was interfering as well as the wind.   
  
"This way Alice." the voice seemed to say and the dense fog parted slightly. Not to reveal anything except a faint, vague glow of green and purple shapes changing in the air. She reached out her arms towards the small dent in the mist and began to move slowly towards the lights glowing through the dull surroundings, not knowing what to expect. "   
The lounge room of the engine room was colder than other parts of the engine room," she thought to herself "so maybe the condensation has risen too much and this is all cool steam? Or maybe the engines have cooled from the slower speeds and this is the side effect."   
All these possibilities kept her mind warm while her body was getting colder and colder, and it was now to the point where she had to wrap her arms around herself. The only thing she had encountered in her travels was when she was in the ice caves deep beneath the ground, but in there it was so cold she couldn't even think and it was a miracle she had been forced out by that giant marble dropped by the ladybug troops. That was the only good thing that they had done for her (accidentally of course since they were trying to kill her in anyway possible!). Alice often thought back to the time in that cold place, and each time, she thought she could remember less and less. She always supposed that being to cold to think would eventually freeze her up but she was now concerned with what these ever growing lights were through the fog.   
After a few minutes the fog began to clear and she was greeted by a vast ocean of a misty floor with plumes and groups of fog, intermittently and irregularly placed within feet of each other. She could finally see a sky and it was bright blue but there was not a single cloud to be seen. She turned on the spot with her head craned up into the heavens but not a single cloud found her eyes, which she found disappointing as in wonderland, there was always harmless clouds in the sky and not a drop of rain fell while Alice was in a certain place . (The skies wouldn't want to disappoint such an idyllic background while she was present and having a good time.)   
  
Suddenly a bright globe became apparent in the distance of the skies as there were no clouds to obstruct its view and it seemed to be coming towards her. Alice had also notice that there were no stars as well as clouds but she imagined that it was still the daytime so they couldn't be seen for the rest of the light. (She had once learnt this in school a long time ago).   
For a moment, Alice stared at this oncoming globe of light as it silently approached her. It didn't seem to be moving with a purpose so she reasoned that it was only heading in her direction from an amazing coincidence. But the coincidence soon disappeared as the globe fired a beam of light at her from it's ever moving body! Alice moved to the left lightly and the beam harmlessly thudded into the ground (mildly disturbing the mist on the floor, but as always , it reset itself almost instinctively.) Alice pulled her knife out quickly as the second beam pulsed from the globe, but Alice raised her blade in response and the beam struck the shiny surface of the blade and reflected back towards the globe which then burst with a loud pop. (That Alice found very amusing !)   
  
"You handled that very well, the voice spoke. It was clear, distinctive and recognisable now that it wasn't being distorted by the fog patch. Alice turned around to see a great mass of grey fog matter begin to open up. Its two opening sides both recalled all the matter with a swirling motion and a rush of wind was heard as they were being swept back, revealing something Alice didn't recognise for a moment until it breathed a puff of extremely colourful smoke.   
"Hello Caterpillar," begin Alice "What are you doing here?"   
"I'm here all the time," he answered confidently: "the trouble with your question is that you don't know were you are to question my reasons for being here? Do you?"   
That was a good point. As far as Alice was concerned she was totally lost, so she had no right to ask her insect friend what his business was here. So she decided to kill two birds with one stone.   
"Well where am I then?" she asked rather aggressively.   
"You have our head in the clouds!" he replied, somewhat surprised. "Haven't you been here before?"   
"I've had my head in the clouds before but it was a long time ago and it was nothing like this" she answered, somewhat humbled and embarrassed as she examined her surroundings that went on for miles around her with no end in sight. "What was that glowing thing that attacked me?"   
"That was one of your stray thoughts. Haven't you found that when your concentrating on something there's always a stray thought that interrupts your concentration?"   
"Yes I've found that often, but how did I get here?"   
"Well I get here often by smoking my hookah, but as for you since you don't smoke, I don't know." And he took one large puff and breathed a rainbow of colours above his head. "What's the last thing you remember Alice?"   
"I was in the engine room of the Bandersnatch cargo ship and I'd just swallowed a small glass of Bandershock." She began to explain. "Then all of a sudden my breathing became extremely difficult as some fumes crept up my windpipe and I passed out. I opened my eyes in a patch of dense fog, then I followed your voice to you."   
  
The Caterpillar listened intently to her stories of Bandersnatch and how she had started to travel to their homelands aboard a great ship. She managed to leave out the part about the attempts on her life and the fact that almost every Bandersnatch she had come into contact was armed in some fashion but as per usual, she couldn't hide everything from the wise insect, and after a stern look she revealed about the attempt on her life. To her disappointment, he didn't seem to bothered about the fact she had nearly been killed. (the look on his leathered face suggested a tone of "I told you so!")   
The Caterpillar looked into the air with a faraway gaze in his eyes and took another long inhale of his hookah as his eyes began to glow white, brighter than any star. Alice stood amazed and aghast at the spectacle.   
"I didn't know you could do that!" Alice managed to say as her mouth was drooped open, but from the caterpillar came no reply as he gazed into the heavens, his eyes as bright as the clouds beneath them.   
Then his head bowed and his eyes closed as he returned to his usual state, his expression looking slightly drained of energy.   
"I could see a ship moving along the waters away from wonderland," he spoke "but it just moved out of my vision and I cannot see it anymore." He sounded disappointed and looked it too. She assumed it was because he felt he know a great deal, but all his abilities had let him down for the first time. Alice tried to be reassuring to her dear friend as best as she could.   
"Don't be sad, I heard my destination is a great distance from Wonderlands shores and that's probably why the Bandersnatch are so secretive and mysterious."   
"I do know of the Bandersnatch, but they reside a long way beyond my reach even here. So I cannot help you until you come closer to this world."   
"But your talking to me now. That's good isn't it?" Alice began to worry. If the "Oracle" of this land didn't know about a certain something or item, it was seriously disturbing for her.   
"Only because we are in the realms of a heightened imagination. My smoke does that for me but I doubt that liquid will return you here again."   
"Why is that?" If Alice was going to be totally isolated from her friends she had second thought about her curiosity. It had led her into trouble before many years ago, but in the same place. Caterpillar took one more deep breath and gave a large exhale with all his might and the ensuing smoke formed a shape on a patch of elevated cloud (similar to a small hill) next to him. The smoke compressed into the shape of a crescent moon, shining a bright shade of yellow. Alice found this strangely familiar but turned her head to follow the shape as it began to turn on it's side. A whispering, swishing noise appeared from the silence from somewhere below her feet. Alice suddenly stepped back as she say 3 holes appear next to her feet. She instinctively pointed her knife towards them and they began to move slowly away from her in a straight line towards caterpillar. He had noticed their arrival and appearance (and the unnerving noise they made!) but he paid them no heed as he continued to smoke his hookah.   
  
The lines rapidly increased their locomotion toward the patch of cloud the caterpillar was resting on as they formed 6 great lines all pointing in the same direction as they travelled, created by some invisible force. Suddenly as they approached Caterpillar, they swerved towards the floating, glowing moon shape and started to gather into a menacing black cloud that formed a small but long sphere around the moon (now laying on its side). The cloud then began to change shape. It writhed around like a fly would in the spiders web as trying to escape, but this was quite the opposite. It wasn't trying to escape the moon shape it was trying to build something around it. As Alice crept closer to examine the swirling cylindrical shape it had temporarily assumed and she looked deep into the boundaries of the cloud, the shape of the sideways moon still glowing brightly. Alice was no closer than 1 foot away from the now calming cloud still gazing wit curiosity into it's depths.   
She leapt back in total shock and fear as two bright bulbous and slit eyes suddenly appeared accompanied by a deep laugh. Alice landed on the floor with a soft thud (she was landing on a cloud after all) with her only injury being her nerves which were moderately strung and some of her pride.   
The moon split down the middle and began to move with a familiar, if not slightly sadistic voice.   
  
"I hope I didn't shock you" it said. Alice recognised that voice and looked as the could settled into a familiar shape. With his eyes glowing brightly and his incisors all adjoining his other teeth in a menacing smile his body formed into an arched back with his claws extended. (Alice realised that it had been drawing his claws along the floor leaving the lines which faded as he now appeared)   
"Next time, warn me when you bring old friends along!" complained Alice to the caterpillar. "His appearance was quite unexpected"   
"Your lucky you are speaking to me at all, Alice" started the Cheshire cat. "If it wasn't for Caterpillar here, you wouldn't be hearing from me for a long time!"   
The Cheshire Cat lied down in a cats relaxed position on top of the tuffet of a cloud and smiled to himself in his usual menacing way.   
  
"Well I'm here now, what do you want to talk about?"


	13. Troubles Prophecy

Alice was gathered around her friends the Cheshire cat and the Caterpillar in a place which only the imagination could have any meaning. Her mind was up in the clouds whilst her body remained on the floor of the engine room lounge suffering from a temporary overdose of Bandershock. However in her "away" state she could talk to her friends who were many miles away behind her as she travelled to the mysterious Bandersnatch Isle. However what she was about to be told, she wished she'd never heard.  
The Caterpillar took one large inhalation from his opium and breathed out with an expression of deep thought whilst Cat next to him changed his expression to one of distaste. Smoking was a filthy habit in his opinion but he knew the Caterpillar was using his heightened awareness to try and predict what came next.  
  
"Well Alice." began Cat "Whilst our friend Caterpillar is browsing what he can see you can tell more about these Bandersnatch creatures, if you wouldn't mind."  
"Well, their quite short and they've got green skin." She began  
"Most unusual" replied cat but paused for a moment to look at Caterpillar. He had greenish skin so he was not one to complain anymore and allowed Alice to finish her description as he felt he would not see one in his travels.  
"They are quite strong and they're very hard working. They built the huge ship I'm sailing on right now and I've seen the engine room. It's like the steam vents beneath the Queens palace and the Hatters asylum. That's what worries me a little"  
"I don't think they have anything to do with your old foes or you would have encountered them earlier during you previous adventures." Reassured Cat  
"True, but it is still creepy." Alice shuddered " I didn't like those steam vents, they burnt quite badly."  
She was about to go on with her story but was halted abruptly by the cat raising his paw suddenly and turning his head towards caterpillar who was now encircled by a fine yet psychedelic swirl or his own smoke, his eyes glowing white. This was normal for him but his expression was one of discomfort and extreme pain like he was being forced into watching something he didn't want to view.  
His eyes faded and he returned to normal, but he was visibly shaken. He turned to Alice and started to speak in a somewhat exhausted tone.  
  
"Alice, I have seen something terrible." He began  
"What can you see?" said Alice not really wanting to know out of fear.  
"I saw you shivering in a cold corner somewhere and your garments were very tattered and you looked in awful condition. I fear for your safety as I cannot see you when you are so far away.  
"But I suppose we can help her in someway?" suggested the cat in his deep tone. He was interrupted by a slight rumbling all around them as the blue skies started to turn more and more greyer with every passing second. Alice started to look about frantically and drew her knife expectantley but there was no target to be found. She began to worry.  
"What's happening?" she asked frantically  
"Your body is regaining consciousness Alice, and your mind is slipping away from us back to the ship you are on. I wont be able to tell you much more before you return to normality." Shouted caterpillar as the rumbling became louder all around them.  
"Suffice to say Alice I can see something terrible happening to you in the near future, you must be prepared for it my dear!"  
"What am I to prepare for?" as she felt herself slipping away from the clouds and her eyes beginning to sleepily close.  
"Just take this," shouted cat calmly "and watch your back!"  
  
Alice jumped up from her slumber and found herself back in the engine room lounge of the Bandersnatch vessel with a surprised Captain and Chief standing around her looking even more surprised than she did.  
"Are you alright my dear?" asked the captain with a puzzled expression. "You fainted for a moment when you drank that drink."  
"If I were you I'd stick to water from now on!" gruffed the engineer and sat back in a comfortable chair with a glass of banderscotch in his hand, taking a large swig.  
She felt slightly embarrassed as she lay there looking at the lights on the roof of the lounge.   
"How long have I been out?" she asked.  
"Just a couple of minutes, you seemed to be somewhere else!" replied the captain  
Alice was confused as she got up from the floor with his help but something was interfering with her back and it was very uncomfortable. It was almost like she had landed on something when she went down and it had stuck to her back. She tried to reach behind her but she looked more like a writhing tortoise trying to right itself than anything else, when her hand gripped some solid and thin object just below her neck in between her shoulder-blades. It felt familiar somewhat and she pulled it in front of her.   
The Cheshire cats last words echoed in the back of her mind; "watch your back!"  
Alice was astonished to see that her old croquet mallet had been placed in the knot of her dress while she lay unconscious on the floor and judging by the expression on the faces of both bandersnatch, they didn't put it there. The cat must have don't it whilst she was up in the clouds.  
  
"What in the name of the ordermaker is that!?" shouted the engineer as he poured himself another glass of banderscotch.  
"It looks like an ostrich?" said the captain as he analysed it from all angles, neither one he looked from yielding any new insight from the last one. Alice thought to herself that if she revealed in the slightest fashion that it was a weapon, the captain would be duty bound to confiscate it so a little bending of the truth was necessary.  
"It's my croquet mallet." She said. (that seemed to be reasonable enough for them as they gazed enthusiastically at the mallet) "I found it upon my travels and I think that someone crafted it for me to find. I didn't want to disappoint them so I took it with me."  
This seemed to make perfect sense to the captain who shook her hand for being a nice girl and so considerate of others.  
"Now do hurry along and return it to your cabin Miss Alice." began the captain "and then I'll see you on the bridge." He looked at both Alice and the Chief, "Don't forget both of you that there is a formal dinner in the officers mess tonight and I expect to see you both there!"   
The chief nodded in acknowledgement and Alice gave a small curtsey and moved off with him back through the engine room (which had cooled down somewhat after the reduced speed, but it was still quite warm) back up though the decks and was escorted back to her cabin. Outside of course stood Bricks guarding the entrance to her room as if it contained riches unimaginable, and this was odd because she wasn't in the room. Also he said he had been getting some sleep before his next watch, so he must have had about 1 and a half hours sleep and went back to work.   
"Strange people the bandersnatch" thought Alice to herself as she approached her room.  
  
The captain began to move off towards the bridge as she stood outside her room, Bricks loming over her like the very wall he was named after.   
"Are you ready to come to the officers mess tonight bricks?" She asked  
"Yes miss Alice." he replied "I'm all ready and I'm waiting for you now." He nodded his head in a somewhat stupid way and his eyes met the mallet she had in her hands. He took it from her and marvelled at it like it was made of pure gold.  
"That's quite a hammer Miss!" he said, open mouthed; "Where did you get it?"  
If she had told him the truth that she had been up in the clouds and it had been given to her by a grinning cat, he probably would have got a headache from trying to grasp the concept to once again, Alice had to scale down the truth.  
"A friend gave it to me, Will you hold it while I get ready for the dinner please?" she asked and he started to smile almost to the reach of her feline friend. His curious obsession with hammers that was indignant to all bandersnatch had attracted him to the mallet (as it did with quite a few other crewmen she had passed on the way back here) and to keep it safe for her was in his eyes, an extreme privilege. He felt slightly disheartened that he wasn't allowed to go anywhere with it so he could show it off to his friends but stood firmly outside her door while she tidied herself up for the banquet.  
Yet all the while the caterpillar's words had stuck in her head as she sat on the bed brushing her hair, pulling it into a straighter version of itself.   
"I will face some danger soon" she thought as she preened herself. "At least I have the mallet now, that should help, And bricks seems to be a good friend, I'm glad I met him. He may come in handy!" 


	14. Everyones getting ready

Alice combed her hair for the last time in front of the mirror of the dressing table in her room, and from every way she looked, it didn't look good enough for a proper occasion. Her dress was all that she had which was understandable (as she would have easily changed into something more fancy if it were available) and she would have to make do with her current outfit, augmented by her hair.  
"I'm not sure if I should go like this!" she spoke to herself as she slumped into her hands on the table.  
"I think I could do with a little on the top" came her voice, but it wasn't from her.  
Alice suddenly looked up into the mirror to see that her reflection was sitting almost in the exact same stance she was but, she had a more curious look on her face.  
"Are you my reflection? Reflections don't talk back!" Alice spoke to it and for her, the idea of talking to ones' self was radically changed.  
"Well I'm offering a second opinion, if it's welcome?" her reflection asked  
"Of course it's welcome but what do you think I should do?"  
Her reflection looked through the drawers on her side of the looking glass and rummaged around until she smiled to herself with delight. Alice did find it extremely disconcerting to see herself doing things in the mirror whilst she was remaining stationary  
"In the top drawer of the table there are some hairpins, you could use those to put your hair up if you like. And I think you should as we both look a little plain for an important occasion."  
Alice though herself to be a little to "high minded" for her own opinion, but it was a throwback from before her parents had died when she used to like dressing up for tea parties she created for that had obviously had survived in the back of her mind an in her reflections as well. But she began to question the mind of her reflection as she opened the top drawer and found it empty. Suddenly she remembered why.  
"My draw is empty and yours isn't because you are through the looking glass and everything is opposite in that world." Alice complained and folded her arms. Winning an argument with ones self was quite satisfying to her. Alice now assumed she must be the better one than her reflection and was unconsciously gloating. Her reflection simply replied with a bland smile and slammed her fist down onto the desk top and said "Try now"  
Alice opened the drawer once more and was surprised to find at least a dozen hair clips and two hairbrushes of better quality than her current one. Alice was about to ask how, but hesitated as she didn't want to give her reflection the satisfaction of triumph so started to change her hairstyle with the help of her reflection who had regressed to her normal imitating and mimicking self. As She proceeded to pamper her hair into new shapes, she admitted to herself that she ad missed the experience and had even caught herself smiling from time to time in the mirror, and she was definitely sure it was not her imagination playing tricks with her again as she felt good inside. The sensations of well being that accompanied a girl making herself look more beautiful had been denied for many years as the grief from the accident and the age inside Rutledges had crept across her like a miserable shadow, so she was looking forward to tonight.  
  
But as the officers and their guests were getting ready for a special occasion, someone was trying to arrange a meeting of their own.  
  
Down in the crewman's decks a single bandersnatch was making his way down to the auxiliary broadcast room with his own plans and agendas. The person of course was Shift Bandersnatch who had just been released from the hold earlier than usual because of his Invitation to the dinner as a senior officer on board. He was the chief of the security guard and they followed his orders, but there was a dividing line amongst the forces. Some of them were loyal to him and the minority of the guards were on the side of the captain because of their status on the mainland, but there were other reasons as well. The well fables Banderwatcher corps had enlisted the services of some citizens at the request of the Ordermaster to be where their mechanical eyes couldn't be, and such people usually had this status hidden from everyone else as the prospect of being followed or watched was unnerving and offensive to some people. Shift Bandersnatch was one of those people as were some of the guards under his control and they had endeavoured to make any and all sacrifices to make sure no-one else knew. The captain knew of course but he always felt there was nothing worth looking for on his ship, a foolish thought to Shift as there were always discontents everywhere. He crept into the transmitter room and began to fiddle with the controls almost like a veteran. Although he was head of the cargo division, his training for the Banderwatchers had helped him with communications and a modest amount of technical training. The Bandersnatch had discovered that the Jabberwock communicate to each other with the beams of electricity they emit from their eyes (when they're not actually talking to you that is) and the bandersnatch have made use of this by taking the eyes and using them for communication. This wonderful discovery was made by Bandersnatch opticals technicians who are amongst the brightest of all the technicians living on the island and some of the brightest in the world! Unfortunately, Shift was not among them.  
  
He reached into the natter-box and began to talk to anyone in the direction the eye above him was pointing.  
"Bandersnatch opticals, Bandersnatch opticals. This is Shift Bandersnatch on the trading vessel Floggit. Can anyone hear me?" he spoke, his gruff voice rumbling in the back of his throat.  
For a few minutes there was nothing but the electric crackle of the eye receiving no signal until suddenly a voice came through on the speaker.  
"This Is Bandersnatch Opticals how may I help you?" replied a mechanical sounding voice, almost devoid of humanity (or bandersnatchity) only hinted by the tone with which it asked the question. Shift however was not impressed.  
"I wish to speak to the Banderwatcher corp. controller on duty!" he ordered.  
"One moment and I will channel you through sir." Groaned the machine who was then cut off by a click, followed by silence once more. All this waiting was getting Shift irritated as he drummed his fingers on the desk of the transmitter and started to breathe more heavily. Not many people knew he was a member of the Banderwatchers and that's just the way he liked it and to make up excuses if he was caught, he was not looking forward to. Finally the silence was broken by a single deep voice emerging from the receiver of his natterbox. It was plain and to the point.  
"Banderwatcher corps. Please give agent number." It spoke and all was silent again, so shift replied quickly.  
"Agent number 101 wishing to report." Was his reply. Bluntness and directness was why the Banderwatchers were feared for their efficiency, like clockwork.  
"Stand by, verifying" came the reply. More waiting.  
"Damn I hate this part." Said Shift to himself. "It's me, Shift on the trade ship Floggit."  
Of course no reply came from the box as the agents were trained not to listen to any excuses as their records were flawless.  
"Identity verified," came the voice. A mistake in the records was almost impossible to even think of. "Shift Bandersnatch proceed with your report."  
"About bloody time!" he said angrily, but quietly as not to be overheard.  
"Just report Shift!" said the voice losing it's patience.  
"Alright then, Well this is big! Do you hear me Big news!"  
A slight pause was followed by a curious "go on?"  
"Well she's on the ship and she's headed for the island now. We'll be there tomorrow morning"  
He smiled as he head the voice on the other end of the natterbox gasp and he heard something clang as he dropped his drink on the floor in surprise. He knew this would get him more credit as good news always did and the Banderwatchers had been waiting for this to happen. Or more specifically the Ordermaker had.  
"Very well, Shift." The voice answered back, slightly shaken "Report understood and is measures are now being taken on the island. As you are close to us don't lose sight of her!"  
"I know that! I'm not stupid!" he almost shouted down into the natterbox, but controlled himself.  
"Well you'd better be careful because this report is going to the Ordermaker straight away! And the bounty on her head was removed and replaced with the punishment of mechanisation so don't get any ideas! Banderwatcher home-base, out!" and a slight crackle of electricity cracked over the receiver as it fell silent once more.  
  
The mood of the Bandersnatch sitting in the communications room suddenly and radically shifted from fear to total shock. Poor shift now felt as if he had now swam to beyond his depth and he didn't like it. He would be at the dinner table sitting amongst the officers and the young madam herself. The news of her imminent arrival was now being circulated through the island to all who needed to know, especially the Ordermaker. HE had done a lot of good for the island bringing stability and uniting the people. But still a dark shadow hung over him as he would only see a few select visitors and he controlled so much on the island. It was a daunting prospect which he had not time to dwell on as Shift ran down the corridor back towards his cabin to get ready for dinner.   
Meanwhile Alice in her cabin had tidied her dress as best as she could and had arranged her hair to a rather swirling pattern which rested above her head thanks to the guidance of her reflection. She looked in the mirror and felt a reduced sense of pride as she looked nicer than she had ever looked before with her hair all arranged and her outfit spotless. She felt feminine again without losing anything and she was enjoying it. Her mind was interrupted by the captain opening the door with Bricks and Lash, smartly dressed in their blue dress uniforms looking very fetching standing behind him.  
"you look lovely Miss Alice," he began almost at surprise at her new look "It is time to go to the party". 


	15. Formality

Alice and her two new friends, Lash and Bricks, were following the captain down the dimly lit corridors of the ship and as they marched along, she felt quite important but not for the roles that wonderland had placed on her. On this ship she was an honoured traveller from the mainland who's stature was odd to the new company she kept as she was slightly taller than most bandersnatch bur a lot leaner than any one she had seen so far. But it was all drowned out by her feeling of excitement as she walked in expectancy to the dinner, looking forward to the occasion immensely as all little girls love a good party, but usually with other girls. Who was her guests with her? Two huge Bandersnatch who were not in the least bit feminine but she had taken them to her side and she was going to enjoy tonight as tomorrow she would see the Island of the Bandersnatch for the first time.  
  
All four of them turned the last corner and before them was a very solid looking door which at first did not seem welcoming. Alice looked at the captain with a look of slight confusion as if to enquire if this was the right room.  
"The Officers mess is where we look at mission orders as well as hold senior meetings. That's why it is a secure compartment. But don't worry." He replied . "Nothing out of the ordinary will happen, I assure you"  
So far on board, an attempt was made on her life, she had almost been boiled alive in the engine room and she had a severe hallucination from drinking something only the engineer could stand. Almost everything that had happened so far was "out of the ordinary" but she sighed almost in agreement as the captain released the locks on the door with a clank and swung it open stepping through it revealing a comfortable looking room, belaying the impression of the door. Around half a dozen Bandersnatch were sitting around a large table which had been suitably laid for a meal or in Alice's impression a banquet with candlesticks and shiny cutlery. The captain let out a gentle couch and all the officers attention was now focused on him,.  
"gentleman," he began sounding quite important; "our guest of honour, Miss Alice"  
And in reply was the sound of groaning wood as the chairs slid across the floor and their owners rose out of them in respect as Alice stepped through the porthole.   
"Quite gentlemanly of them" Alice thought to herself as she thought back to what she knew of officers in the real world. They were all gentlemen and more of the upper class of society whilst the lower classes worked on the more menial duties so there must be a similar order of things for the bandersnatch from what she had observed so far. But anyway the captain pulled out a chair in one side of the table into which she sat, wondering what kinds of dishes were under the tureens that were steaming on the table. She was quite hungry after all.  
The Captain went to the top of the table and sat in a larger chair than the others and smiled at Alice.  
"Miss Alice may I present my officers. Starting from my left, you have met my first officer and the chief engineer whom you have already met."   
Alice was listening up to the very second when she noticed who was sitting next to the engineer. It was Shift. Alice wondered what he was doing out of the prison and was slightly relieved to see that he wasn't carrying his sidearm with him. But still, he and her had not got off to the best start.  
"Yes well Shift is the chief of Security and Cargo Operations so he was obliged to come to this function." His tone became a little more fierce; "But anymore trouble from you and your going straight back to the brig! Understood?"  
Shift nodded silently, his eyes never leaving Alice's. The Captain continued to the person to his opposite side.  
  
"This is our Medical chief, Bones Bandersnatch who I don't think you've met yet?"  
"No I haven't yet and no offence to any of you gentlemen but I hope I don't!" she replied which encouraged a mild laugh from everyone around the table, except for Shift.  
"Actually miss," he began, his voice stern yet laced with mild sensitivity; "the good chief called me when you had that little incident in the engine room. But by the time I had got my medical kit you had woken up. But still, a pleasure Miss Alice" and nodded respectfully to which she returned the gesture as the captain continued.  
"The gentleman on his left is Lost Bandersnatch and he's our communications officer and Navigator on board ship."  
"Don't let the name fool you Miss Alice," he reassured her, his tone slightly higher than the others; "I'm really quite good. And we'll reach the hope port by tomorrow, you can be sure of it". He had a kindly smile which reassured her of his abilities.  
"And of course there's your guests, Bricks and Lash" finished the captain.  
Her friends by this point had both looked slightly put off by the whole scene about them. It must have been a special privilege not shared by many of their shipmates to be invited to the captains table and now they looked slightly humbled, which the captain noticed.  
"Gentleman, you are at the officers table, don't be embarrassed as we're glad to have you. Now please everyone take your seats and lets have a drink." His voice was reassuring and like any crew would they all obeyed him and sat back down and being the guest, Alice retook her seat as a steward filled her glass from behind with what looked like a form of wine. Alice had remembered seeing her parents drinking wine and they seemed to enjoy it. But that was human wine, not Bandersnatch wine. However she followed the example of the officers as they raised their glasses for a toast.  
  
"To our new guest," said the captain, raising his glass "Miss Alice."  
"Alice!" echoed the chorus of voices and everyone took a drink from their goblets. Alice shrugged her shoulders and drank from hers as well. The sensation that greeted her taste buds was quite pleasing as her palate welcomed the liquid from the glass with avid hospitality. Its taste was more mature and formal than banderscotch and a lot cooler as well. The combination of the aroma and the taste was a pleasure to behold for all her senses and she could not help the smile and look of impression as she placed her glass back on the table.  
  
As all the glasses were replaced, the stewards brought in the foods and condiments to the table with clockwork timing as the command staff all made various expectant noises as each plate was brought in. Alice herself had wondered what the delicious smells were approaching and her plate was presented with a piece of mean which was slightly green in appearance, but still looked quite succulent as much as the vegetables of different shapes and colours aside the meal. It had been a while since Alice had a meal of such preparation as food in the asylum was very basic and quite bland but still, green meat?  
"Captain," she asked; "I've never seen meat of this…….type before what is it?"  
"Jabberwock meat miss Alice, it comes from a Jabberwock. Its quite tasty!" he replied, as though normality was sitting on her plate as she was expected to eat it.  
"I hope the meat is nicer than the personality, the last one I met tried to kill me!"  
This ushered a small chorus of laughter among the officers as they looked to each other , enjoying their meat.  
"They are quite unpleasant those Jabberspawn, aren't they" piped up the First officer.  
"This was the fully grown Jabberwock." She replied cutting the meat with cautious precision.  
The sounds of delight and feasting stopped suddenly as the assembly looked at her. At least half a dozen pairs of eyes focusing on her with expressions of shock on the faces of their owners. Her studies had mentioned the jabberwocks and the bandersnatch co-existing together, why were they so afraid?  
Alice looked dejected  
"Have I said something wrong?" she said, slightly deflated.  
"No Alice you haven't" replied shift, his tone still reeking with contempt.  
"It's just on our homeland, all the Jabberspawn die before they reach maturity." explained Lost; "They cant survive with out external aid."  
"But we do know that the one Jabberwock that was fully grown was quite the handful." Echoed the first officer.  
"That's why I noticed your blade when I first saw you." interrupted Shift. "That blade may not be powerful but the Jabberwock fear it. You'd be well advised to keep it hidden when we reach the island. Or I could mind it for you" he smiled. This kind of smile would make the bravest of men shudder in their soul, even Alice felt uncomfortable.  
"Wherever this blade goes, Shift" she replied. Her voice almost as sinister; "I go"  
  
The mood stayed like this for a few moments. The atmosphere between them could have been cut with the very blade she mentioned. Thankfully, the Captain intervened.  
  
"Yes well, this is a dinner party so lets keep the surprises to a minimum shall we?" looking at both Alice and Shift. Alice nodded apologetically but Shift just carried on eating.  
"You must be quite daring to defeat a full grown Jabberwock, Alice?" asked Bones. "I'm not one for violence myself."  
"I had some help from a good friend, he took the brunt while I finished him off. But I'd rather not talk about it, thank you." Alice well remembered Gryffon was mortally wounded with his fight but thanks to her and the queens defeat, he recovered.  
But the meal carried on and the food was delicious. Alice never expected this meat to taste particularly nice, but it was quite scrumptious and she secretly wished to herself that she had taken the opportunity to carve a slice from her fallen foe when he was lying on the ground. But she took note not to mention it in polite company and simply smiled to herself! 


	16. Our History

The meal had finished and like all dinner parties with any sense of formality attached to the came the traditional pudding and then the part Alice was looking forward to. After dinner tea, coffee and biscuits. Alice sat in her chair with great expectancy as her steward poured a flow of brown steaming liquid into a small cup of an equally small saucer. IF there was one thing Alice liked in this magical place, it was her cup of tea and it's many varieties. AS she knew, grasshopper tea increased her stamina and changed her partially into an insect for a short while so she sipped her bandersnatch tea cautiously. She wasn't disappointed as the rich flavour and the hot liquid poured down her throat exciting her palate with every small drop. She finished her cup rather quickly (which she felt was rude) so asked for another while the officers had their varieties of drink. The chief of course drank his bandershock whilst most of the other officers had a form of coffee. The only people to share her tea were the navigator, Lost and the medic, Bones. And during this liquid experience, many of the gentleman were smoking long cigarettes and filling the room with smoke with every puff they made. But thankfully, the mood had lightened and the topic turned to tea, which surprised Alice.  
  
"I do find this tea quite lovely, here's to the Ordermaker, gentleman" said the navigator.  
As the other officers raised their teacups, no-one noticed the small yet sinister smile of Shift behind his teacup.  
"Who is the Ordermaker?" asked Alice sipping her tea; "is he your leader?"  
Several of the officers laughed gently and smiled at each other but it was the captain to begin the story.  
  
"Well miss Alice," he began; "Not so long ago, most of us were fighting amongst each other and there was chaos everywhere. In fact most of our mechanical knowledge comes from when we were inventing better and better machines to destroy each other."  
The Chief interrupted him for a moment.  
"In fact Alice, this vessel was around when the fighting was happening. I think she used to be a troop transport a long time ago. One of the first to go to the mainland it think?"  
"I never knew that?" piped up Lost, looking genuinely surprised.  
"Well they don't call you "Lost" for nothing do they?!" Shift managed to slide in but got a firm look from the young navigator.  
The captain reestablised his flow of control as the others listened intently.  
"Gentleman Please, I'll continue if you don't mind?" gestured the Captain, and the others fell silent.  
"Right, As the chief said, this vessel was sent on a journey to the mainland to try and find resources and knowledge to aid in the never ending fighting."  
"Did those Bandersnatch find anything?" asked Alice.  
"Well the history is a little sketchy but the team who explored wonderland found someone who was like them and they assumed he was some form of grand technician as he knew about mechanics. So they brought him back to the mainland to see if he would wok for them." He continued. "He saw the chaos on the island and united all the bandersnatch to a common goal. To better ourselves in the order he could give us. He made sure every one had something to do and helped us build he great machines in the city and for the island."  
The Doctor managed to interrupt the story, but Alice was learning more and more with every word.  
"He even managed to double the life expectancy of the Jabberspawn on the island and helped us tame them. He formed the Jabberwock Cavalry and the mounted orderlies" The captain continued not minding the doctors interruption as it was relevant to his story.  
"So we thank him for the peace and prosperity he gave our people" finished the captain.   
"And our military is not to be laughed at either!" commented Shift.  
"But mercifully, we've never had to use them yet , have we?" asked the captain and managed to entice a small chorus of laughter from his officers.  
"Except on the freedom resistance but they're not much more than petty thugs and immature mechanics." Reminded Shift.   
This simple comment was the first thing him and the officers agreed on.  
  
"Who are they and why do they resist?" asked Alice; "it sounds very organised to me"  
Shift was the only one to answer this question as the others were quite in the dark about the topic.  
"They resist because they say the Ordermaker takes away our freedom and our rights. But they're just anarchists wanting to send us back to our more……violent times."  
"But they're not doing a very good job right?" she asked.  
"Correct, our orderlies always stop them before they can carry out any of their plans. Thanks to the Ordermaker of course"  
"I think I'd like to meet this leader of yours when we arrive." Thought Alice aloud finishing her tea and all the guests gave expressions of "certainly" and "why not" All except one.  
"You'll meet him Alice, I'm sure of it." said Shift underneath his breath  
  
The teacups were empty, the food had been eaten and the slow feeling of sleep and tiredness was creeping up on Alice and her friends. Night was falling from out of the porthole windows and the officers were gesturing to leave.   
"Gentleman," the captain spoke, sound quite important; "I shall want you rested and at your posts tomorrow morning as we'll be arriving port." He turned to Alice. "And miss Alice, we'll wake you when we are about to dock so you can come up on deck and see for yourself. A bit of sea air will do you wonders!"  
Alice simply smiled. "I'm sure I will. When will we arrive, I don't want to miss anything?"  
"Don't worry Miss Alice, I will send for you when the time is right," he assured her; "trust me, you wont miss a thing. May I escort you to your cabin?"  
"No thank you, I'd prefer it if Bricks and Lash did that for me captain, I haven't talked to them all night." She replied apologetically. But it was true that throughout the whole occasion, they had spoken nothing or very little. The captain smiled and nodded his head towards the two crewmen (to which they snapped to attention) and he progressed out of to the door and presumably back to the bridge leaving Alice, Bricks and Lash.  
  
As they walked back down the corridors of the ship Alice questioned (or interrogated) her two friends on their silence through dinner.  
"Well I thought it was an interesting party, but why did you two not say a single word?" she asked, almost in a threatening manner. The two simply looked at each other, as if trying to find the answer in each others minds but finding nothing. It was a few minutes before lash managed to stammer something.  
"Well, well there were all the officers in one room. A very high gathering you might say"  
"Very high indeed" bricks managed to echo.  
"And we didn't want to say anything if we got it wrong, or we conflicted with someone. Those officers DO run the ship you know?" Alice noticed that he almost seemed frightened and became the shoulder to lean on. (Even though she was at least a foot taller than he was.)  
"The officers are gentlemen by nature and they wouldn't punish you for something you did wrong. And besides I think Shift was the pain of the dinner table tonight, even though he did come up with some curious points. The rebels and all that."  
There were quiet nods and murmurs of agreement from both the seamen before the silence resumed as they walked. Alice had one more topic to talk about before they reached her cabin.  
"Do you know any of these resistance people?" she asked curiously? Her body suddenly became quite meek looking, portraying a childlike innocence.  
  
Bricks stopped walking suddenly and turned to face her.  
"Yes, but not all of them are bad you know." He spoke, almost in a whisper. "Some of them are hunted for crimes they didn't commit and their cause is not all that evil. The Ordermaker has made some unreasonable demands from time to time."  
"Like what" she asked, and noticed Lash was apparently watching to check the coast was clear  
"Well some people say that some people went to military and science type places and were never heard from again and some have heard screams in the night!"  
Lash continued his friends' story. "And the patrollers, They're constables to you I suppose, don't know anything about it."  
"It's only rumour of course. But If I were you, I'd keep you eyes open when we get there Miss Alice"  
Alice was not often scared, but this news was slightly chilling to hear. But nevertheless, they had arrived at her cabin. They parted company and Alice went over to the mirror to brush her hair before bed. As she sat down in front of the dresser, her reflection copied all her movements exactly but gave it's own opinions as always!  
"Don't worry too much, I doubt if those two have half a handkerchief to tie a not in."  
"That's not very nice, they are my best friends so far!"  
"Well I was made on the island" reassured the reflection; "and look how I turned out."  
Alice turned the mirror towards the wall, abruptly silencing it which brought her a mild sense of satisfaction. But she remembered well that she was the better person as looking glass people aren't all they were cracked up to be. But still as she climbed into bed she had a lot to think about.  
  
She looked up at the roof and her mind wandered on all the things she had learnt. The rebels? The Island in fact? This Ordermaster person and the Jabberwock? All these questions swirled through the winds of thought in her head before exhaustion closed her eyes for her and she began to fall asleep.   
Before she fell totally asleep, she reached under the mattress of her bed.  
  
Good, her mallet was still there. 


	17. Fresh Form the Yard

Chapter 17: Fresh from the yard.  
  
The factories were awash with activity from the workers and heat from the machinery. Everyone was busy, grinding, welding, steaming, charging on some part of the new soldiers. However, you could see it on the faces of the bandersnatch, that they were both unsure and afraid of what they were making for the Ordermaker and the General as they had never seen or made such a contraption before, and they all thought they'd made everything! They were getting paid well for it though..  
  
The ordermaker sat in his special chair next to the general of the army and the factory director who was wringing his hands both with anticipation and nervousness. He was a crooked looking bandersnatch in comparison to both the general and his workforce, having shoulders which make his neck seem non-existent and small glasses perched on the end of his long nose, he was both ruthless with his workers and mean with the money he made which made him unpopular with the workers, but respected by the Ordermaker. (as long as everything ran efficiently that is.)  
"Your workers are very organised," began the ordermaker "I hope it's not because I'm here!"  
"No Ordermaker," replied the Factory director "I have seen to it they work just has hard to keep efficiency optimum."  
"I hope so, this is a special project for all of us that I'll be needing very shortly" he replied.  
He was of course referring to the growing number of discontents with his order. He had watched them grow in numbers and gain supplies through discreet means with the unquestionable loyalty of both the Banderwatcher Corp and the B.E.N.D.S. Loyalty was rewarded when he ran things and betrayal was punished every time. Quite severely.  
  
"I think its time to inspect the first detachment sir." Piped up the General from his chair as he finished his glass of banderscotch. He had been very quiet whilst this inspection was taking place as he knew full well the consequences of this project. A lot of his men were being scaled down for this new machine, even though having a machine do the fighting would save lives, it would also make the existing troops uneasy to share the battlefield with something that could be blown apart and be rebuilt again in greater numbers, and of course, a person cannot simply be rebuilt. Yet.  
The new weapons that were being made did meet his approval as they needed a trained soldier to operate them and they did the job more effectively than the older model blinkers they had now. He was anxious to see them as they sat in the quiet observation room while the machinery below groaned, rumbled and steamed out it's workload.  
  
They all rose and stepped out the door into a technical schematic room with the first prototypes of both a rapid fire blinker and the automated soldier. The general admired the weapon with genuine enthusiasm while the ordermaker grinned at sight of the soldier as it was his design that stood before him once again. It stood before them all, in it's bulky metallic form was menacing to all except the ordermaker as he was the only one taller than it. It's brass plating shimmered with the light bouncing off it and it's hands were like two heavy chunks of metal, gripping that could crush it's enemy in it's grasp. It had no eyes as such but it's head was linked to it's body directly with no neck to act as an appealing target for a sword.  
The general broke the attention of the group and ruptured the impressive silence that had befell all of them as his enthusiasm finally broke.  
"It's perfect!!" He said brimming over with excitement unbecoming of his rank and position. The Ordermaker shook his head in dismay, he expected more control from his senior staff.  
"This soldier can replace our entire army! They need never eat, sleep or desire to get paid. We should begin mass production now sir if we are to replace...."  
The Ordermaker stopped his enthusiasm with a single word  
"No"  
"No sir?"  
"IF we replace all of our forces, the people would lose their pride, and not every machine can replace a persons function, no matter how useful."  
The general was dismayed and his head was filled with questions, but he had an inkling of where his superior was coming from.  
"Take the rapid fire blinker," he began "It still needs an operator to make it function and researchers to develop it further. Tell me can it move on it's own?"  
"Not yet," replied the chief researcher "but we are working on the locomotion section to be fitted and it shouldn't take too long."  
"Then produce 200 of these automated soldiers and equip every unit of the regular army with 5 of these devices. They will need them soon so begin production now!"  
and with that order the factories were awash with activity as production began at full steam.  
  
Night had fallen over the Island and the Order maker and the General were heading back to his darkened room in the Bandersnatch Opticals building and were rising in the ascender when a plot was formed regarding a rebel faction and a certain young lady.  
  
"I received a report that she is on her way and will reach the island at first light, sir" reported the General.  
"Send the B.E.N.D.S onto the docks tomorrow and observe her every movement. Do we have an agent onboard the ship?"  
"Yes sir, but he's quite.....questionable in his loyalties"  
The order makers face grimaced slightly as a smile crept slowly across his flesh.  
"Most of the Banderwatcher Corps are general, The B.E.N.D.S are not and with my new army being built, when these rebels finally decide to take action, I can sweep them away in one blow."  
  
AS they both rose to the top of the building, the ship on the seas was creeping closer and closer to the shores with it's important passenger on board. Surreptitiously being watched, and even though she suspected it, there wasn't anything she could do about it..Yet 


	18. A City in the clouds!

Chapter 18 - The City in the clouds!!  
  
The boat was sailing around the shores of the island on it's busiest and largest section and on the mainland, the huge buildings of the Bandersnatch homes, offices and factories were visible through the spray from the ocean that washed up past the eyes of the crew aboard ship. From the Command deck all the orders for the docking and arrival were being sent from the captain to his subordinates and the whole ship was bustling with activity as both the officer and the regulars were all excited about returning from their trade mission with a hold full of cargo. However Alice was simply dumbstruck at the sights that befell her as they approached the mainland. Beside her on either side were her new friends Nails and Lash Bandersnatch who were assigned to be with her during her period on ship and on more personal reasons were considering the idea of staying with her during, some pats of her exploits on the island. They both knew too well the island was bustling with activity and a single person can often become lost very easily!   
"Order Central is a big place Miss Alice" bricks began to say to Alice, "There a places where you get lost and some places that you don't want to go!!!| and he looked at Lash with an almost concerned look.  
"I'm sure one will be ableto find her way around, but thanks for staying with me, I'm starting to miss some of my best friends." Replied Alice as she gazed in the opposite direction of the city back to wards wonderland. She knew very well that no-one was willing to travel far away with her as they didn't share her curiosity. Cat seemed tied to the mainland and he amongst many people know what curiosity did to people like him…  
  
The Boat sailed through the spray and crept it's way into the docks, joining up in all the relevant places as it's crew were commencing to empty the hold of it's cargo. Alice could already see that the captain was granting leave to some of the men and she heard their cheers as they ran through the docks and into the city. He returned onto the deck and approached her with his first officer following in his footsteps.  
"Welcome to Bandersnatch Isle, Miss Alice!" he spoke and he turned to her companions on either side of her and his expression became slightly more stern. "I trust you will show our new guest what's what and where's where crewmen?" he asked.  
They both stiffened to attention in respect and they ushered Alice down the gangplank onto terra-firma (which felt especially good to Alice since she felt that the floor had not stopped moving since she boarded the boat) and started to move through the harbour.  
The Harbour was made up of huts of all shapes and sizes and warehouses which contained various contents and bandersnatch all hurry about their jobs and tasks into which Alice was ever curious but she was nudged along in a certain direction all the time by her 2 escorts, but she could not help seeing the occasional guard, armed with a blinker or a long spear like with a glowing orb on the top.  
"Why are their guards on the pier guys?" she asked inquisitively, "I thought you said you didn't have any enemies as such?"  
They looked at each other, almost in desperation as if they were trying to find the answer in each others mind. After a few moments of this mutual discomfort, Lash swallowed hard and spoke in a very quiet voice.  
"Don't forget Miss Alice, That the rebels are everywhere on the island an there's been a few rumours that they've been stealing supplies and weapons from the docks. That's why the guards are everywhere. There's even a few towers up ahead where they can shoot you from!!!" and he gestured up ahead of them where several tall towers made up of metal had been erected with a small cabin on top where a guard or 2 were surveying the scene from on high, all of them were armed in one form or another.  
"I think we'd better get into the city now Lash!!!" Bricks blurted out suddenly changing the subject and they all hurried past the harbour into the city.  
  
Alice had never seen such a Place! The buildings were higher than any steeple or tower she had seen in her lifetime and some of them were joined together by hollow tubes of steel and glass in which she could barely see bandersnatch walking through them, crossing over from building to building. The whole sides of the Towers seemed to be rooted deeply into the ground, unaffected by weather or nature as a testament to these little creatures incredible achievements. On the streets surrounding them, thousands upon thousands of bandersnatch were walking on the pavements, talking amongst themselves and all of them seeming to be in a rush to go somewhere or to do something. Her mind and her thoughts seemed to be drowned out by the sheer and loud sound of thousands of people talking, moving, living and working. Entering these enormous buildings, working on the large streets. The feeling of almost bewilderment had grabbed her as she stood in this immense city, walking its streets with her 2 new friends who weren't affected by the sights that had numbed her so badly.  
She was suddenly snapped back into concentration by a shocking spark on her forearm and a stern voice shouting at her.  
"No weapons allowed on civilians in the capital!!!!!"  
Alice turned around sharply and almost fell down as the sight of a Bandersnatch seated upon a large Jabberspawn (who's face and fangs were no less that 1 foot away) with his long lance pulling away from her arm. He had obviously given her a mild shock, however he instincts returned to her faster than her concentration.  
She got up from the floor and brandished her Vorpal Blade in defence, knocking the persons lance away from her tingling arm and raising it in a defensive posture, ready to counter a following shock.  
The only response he offered was a loud growl from his beast of burden which caught her off guard followed by a more numbing shocking prod to her abdomen which felled her once again.  
  
Lash and Bricks quickly stepped in front of her to avoid further trouble as they knew she was important.  
"Officer," began Lash "She's new to the island and were helping her out while she's here, we'll take care of her, promise!!!"  
The officer raised his pole arm back up to a vertical position and jerked the head of his mount down the street, more than likely continuing his patrol for trouble. They both turned around to see Alice glaring at the streets. There were all manner or vehicles being pulled my Jabberspawn of various sizes and several more mounted soldiers patrolling the streets and roads.  
"What was that!!!!!" she simply said, almost lost for words.  
"Bandersnatch Mounted Cavalry" replied Bricks, "They are used by the army and internal security to do the work of policing us people and to solve trouble. As for his mount, didn't we tell you that we use Jabberspawn already?"  
Alice was on the verge of becoming extremely frustrated. Jabberspawn had always tried to kill her by tearing her apart or shocking her on the spot. Now she was seeing these beasts in all directions doing various functions and her first feeling of terror was starting to creep over her. She was now in a place where her former enemies had surrounded her in every direction, yet they were not after her. Bricks and Lash had noticed her slight terror and were looking concerned.  
"Yes, I'm sorry I forgot." Was the only answer she could muster and they continued down the streets, passing the people and the metropolis.  
The Mounted Cavalry officer was watching them walking down the road with an unfriendly interest as they journeyed down the streets. He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small device and began to speak into it.  
"Watcher to base, Girl has been sighted and is now in Order Central"  
He put his device back into his tunic and continued on his patrol.  
  
On the top floor of his building, The Ordermaker was making decisions.  
"She is in the city," he spoke into his talkbox. "Make sure she finds somewhere to stay and she is comfortable there!" he turned off the talkbox only to turn it back on again.  
"Lets hope she finds the rebels before we do!" he spoke with a sinister tone and sat back in his chair. IF this worked, he wouldn't have to worry about rebels again. She would unintentionally help him to get rid of his "spanner in the works". 


	19. The first Attempt

Chapter 19 - The First Attempt  
  
Bricks and Lash were continuing their escort to Alice and they were all proceeding in the direction of a place called "Central District" which according to Lash was the main financial centre of the whole island. It was a place of maths, statistics, and science and there were several major buildings that certain companies had built themselves and had become monuments in their own way.  
As they strolled into the district, there seemed to be more people bustling around the pavements and more jabberspawn drawn carriages on the street and the buildings seemed to have a more majesty about them and most of which were so tall, the tops of them were not visible to Alice's eye. They simply disappeared into the clouds but all of them had the same linkages between buildings, brimmed with people. It seemed that so impossible that so small a people could manufacture and construct in such a hurried pace.  
"How long did it take your people to build all of this?" asked Alice in amazement and curiosity.  
She suddenly remembered her companions were not historians and compared to other bandersnatch, they weren't the brightest amongst the crew. However she was surprised by their answer.  
"It didn't take that long actually to build the city." Replied Lash  
"Most of the basics of the buildings were here already, and were wrecks and ruins because of the chaos and the fighting before the Ordermaster" interrupted Bricks, almost as if it was obligatory. This caught Alice's attention. The Queen of Hearts was fond of re-writing the memories of her subjects to legitimise her orders. Could the same mechanisms be working here??  
  
"The big companies all pulled their resources after the new order came along, but the biggest of the lot was Bandersnatch Opticals. They have the biggest workforce and the most money." continued Lash.  
"Well, do they have a building like these ones??" asked Alice.  
"Yea" replied Lash and he began to lead her around the corner through the bustling crowd.  
Alice went willingly as her curiosity compelled her to explore. However, something was bothering her. She couldn't see the people in the links high above her between the buildings, but she could feel someone watching her. She couldn't tell from where though...  
She was right. High up under one of the links a pair of eyes were monitoring her and following her, and when they couldn't see her no more, another pair of eyes took their place. All of this as being watched in the building not 100 yards away from where she was walking, and as she walked, people were talking, events were happening and buttons were being pressed. Something was about to happen.  
People were moving down below on the streets, masked by many thousands of others. And they were being watched too.  
  
Alice turned the corner and looked where Bricks was pointing, The tower before her rose high in the sky and had an ominous feeling about it which made her shiver down to her bones.  
The tower before her had spires that curled out of the sides that formed an ordered lattice linking shapes together and there was a large clock halfway up the tower amidst the spires. It was high enough to be seen by the people on the ground but it was obvious by its decorations of cogs, hammers and strange shapes that it was meant to be looked upon. This clock, this entire building was in the middle of the district and judging by it's shape it was possibly the centre of the island, and this building demanded respect. Because of it's monument to the steady order of life, you could feel that this tower had eyes. Judging by the way Lash and Bricks looked at it, she could tell they were slightly intimidated.  
"This is the head building of Bandersnatch Opticals, The home of the Order Maker and where most of the big decisions are made." quoted Bricks and Lash between them.  
"Impressive" replied Alice "I get the feeling I'll be having a look around sooner or..."  
Her sentence was interrupted sharply, abruptly and painfully.  
  
One of the empty carriages behind her suddenly and violently exploded sending shards of wood and a shower of splinters all over everyone standing near it and scorching the wall of nearby buildings.  
All three of the travellers were hurled off their feet by the blast and Alice was thrown down onto the floor. As she nursed her now aching head, she looked up and saw the clock of the tower looking down upon her. Every tick was like a repeat of the blast and every slight movement of the giant, twisted hands failed to cushion her from the shock of the force. This clock was cold, and filled with malice. To even look upon it made her feel cold.   
Someone was trying to talk to her but it was garbled by the ringing in her ears. She shook he head and the white noise seem to fade with every shudder. She eventually heard a voice.  
"Alice? You OK?"  
It was a Bandersnatch that she had never seen before. He was dressed in a while and his most noticeable feature were his blue eyes that seemed to reach into the back of your mind and relax you.   
"Come on Alice, you can make it" the voice seemed to say. It was almost melodic.  
Alice came around with bandersnatch in white uniforms and armed guards cordoning off the area and mechanics searching through what was left of the carriage.   
She got to her feet and surveyed the scene around her. There were innocent people lying in the streets surrounded by these medics. Scorch marks were on the walls, the floor and the flesh of the nearby people as wooden shards were scattered amongst the wreckage. The picture was that of true hate and chaos. Some was trying to kill. More to the point, someone was trying to kill her!!  
The sudden panic overcame her, She reached her arm behind her back and felt her knife, it was still there, she could reach for it in a moments notice and slit the throat of her attacker, but where were they?? She started to toss and turn but the calming voice of the medic slowed her down once more.  
"Where are my friends? What happened to them?" asked Alice. The desperation in her voice was obvious.  
"They're alright, they got a little shaken and they've got a few cuts but they're ok Alice."  
"How do you know my name?"  
His smile was reassuring, yet strange.  
"We heard you were coming Alice when you were on the ship over the seas. Your lucky I got to you, if it was any other medic, I'm sure you'd be taken away by now."  
"Your part of the rebell....." She began to ask, but he clapped his hand about her mouth gently. He took it away slowly when he realised that she had her knife pointed to his side below his ribs. As he pulled away, she sheathed her blade.  
"Who are you?"  
"Questions are risky in the streets," he began "why do you think the crowds make so much chatter?"  
"Good point." She thought.   
"I'll take you to your flat and I'll get back to you later," his eyes suddenly went into a piercing glare as if he was drilling a message into her mind, "but NO MORE QUESTIONS for now!"  
Alice was getting tired of trusting complete strangers but if this person was working for freedom and choice instead of order and rigidity, he looked a lot better. She kept reminding herself as he led her into another carriage, cracked the whip and led her out of the centre.   
  
One of the bandersnatch medics looked towards them as they both strode away as he was tending to one of the victims and grimaced to himself. He looked over to another one of the medics and shook his head, to which the response was a simple look and a shrug of the shoulders. With this simple yet wordless message, they had revealed themselves to a nearby guard who ushered them both to a nearby ally. Inaudible voices were heard, followed by muffled struggling and 2 small catch sounds of a blinker on full power as 2 dull thuds hit the floor and were hauled away by 2 officers of the bandersnatch cavalry.   
"No-one is getting the bounty on her yet!" he said to himself "Not before she's finished doing our job."  
  
Alice was now sitting the room of a place that her medic friend had brought her to. She felt resentment on being told what to do like a little girl but she decided (reluctantly) to do as she was told. She looked into the mirror in a nearby bathroom and her reflection didn't speak a word. She didn't move of her own free will and she didn't copy the solitary tear that rolled off her cheek. She was hunted, and all of her friends were so far away.   
Helpless,  
Alone.... 


End file.
